In From the Cold

[jya@pipeline.com (John Young)]

   June 28 the NYT and Wash Post reported on a new report on 
   intelligence: 
 
      In From the Cold: The Report of the Twentieth Century 
      Fund Task Force on the Future of U.S. Intelligence. 
 
   This report supplements and differs somewhat from the three 
   released earlier this year by the Brown Commission, 
   Representative Combest's Committee and the Council on 
   Foreign Relations. It recommends greater emphasis on 
   economic intelligence and less on military support as well 
   as reduction of covert operations. Here's an excerpt from 
   the Foreword: 
 
      The Task Force discerned basic problems that merit far 
      greater attention. Foremost among them is the 
      intelligence community's increasing preoccupation with 
      military priorities since the Soviet Union's collapse, 
      which has coincided with a decline in the usefulness of 
      intelligence to civilian policymakers. To help strike a 
      more equitable balance between the military and civilian 
      needs of the government, the Task Force proposes 
      specific recommendations for strengthening what it 
      perceives to be four pervasive shortcomings: 1) the 
      atrophying analytic capabilities of the intelligence 
      community and U.S. foreign policy agencies; 2) the lack 
      of productive and effective interactions between the 
      intelligence community and civilian officials who make 
      foreign policy decisions; 3) a clandestine service whose 
      costs have too often exceeded its benefits; and 4) 
      poorly organized, unfocused, and often mediocre economic 
      intelligence efforts. 
 
   The full volume is 275 pages, composed of introductions,  
   the main 21-page report and three extensive and detailed 
   background papers of 248 pages. 
 
   The introductions and main report are at: 
 
      http://pwp.usa.pipeline.com/~jya/infrom.txt  (60 kb) 
 
   INF_rom 
 
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      In From The Cold: The Report of the Twentieth Century 
      Fund Task Force on the Future of U.S. Intelligence. 
 
      With Background papers by Allan E. Goodman, Gregory F. 
      Treverton and Philip Zelikow 
 
      The Twentieth Century Fund Press, New York, 1996. $5.95 
      ISBN 0-87078-392-0 
 
      To order by telephone: 1-800-552-5450