ISP Director Joins Civil-Intelligence Relations Discussion

ISP Director Steve Slick participated in a recent on-line roundtable discussion of “Civil-Intelligence Relations” organized by the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The roundtable was sponsored by the FPRI’s Program on National Security and included the Institute’s President-elect, Carol Rollie Flynn.

The discussion addressed the historical – and current – tension that often characterizes the Intelligence Community’s relationship with the political leaders it serves. Participants described the challenge of setting strategic intelligence priorities, avoiding politicization of intelligence assessments and establishing a strong organizational culture or “ethos” that unifies our large and dispersed intelligence enterprise. Acknowledging the essential role played by fully empowered leaders, Slick encouraged the administration to “act quickly to nominate qualified national security figures to fill the top two jobs at ODNI” that remain vacant. The full discussion is available HERE.