§426. Integration of Department of Defense intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities

(a) ISR Integration Council.-(1) The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security shall establish an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Integration Council-

(A) to assist the Secretary of Defense in carrying out the responsibilities of the Secretary under section 105(a) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3038(a));

(B) to assist the Under Secretary with respect to matters relating to-

(i) integration of intelligence and counterintelligence capabilities and activities under section 137(b) of this title of the military departments, intelligence agencies of the Department of Defense, and relevant combatant commands; and

(ii) coordination of related developmental activities of such departments, agencies, and combatant commands; and

(C) to otherwise provide a means to facilitate such integration and coordination.

(2) The Council shall be composed of-

(A) the Under Secretary, who shall chair the Council;

(B) the directors of the intelligence agencies of the Department of Defense;

(C) the senior intelligence officers of the armed forces and the regional and functional combatant commands;

(D) the Director for Intelligence of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and

(E) the Director for Operations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

(3) The Under Secretary shall invite the participation of the Director of National Intelligence (or a representative of the Director) in the proceedings of the Council.

(4) The Under Secretary may designate additional participants to attend the proceedings of the Council, as the Under Secretary determines appropriate.

(b) Annual Briefings on the Intelligence and Counterintelligence Requirements of the Combatant Commands.-(1) The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall provide to the congressional defense committees and the congressional intelligence committees a briefing on the following:

(A) The intelligence and counterintelligence requirements, by specific intelligence capability type, of each of the relevant combatant commands.

(B) For the year preceding the year in which the briefing is provided, the fulfillment rate for each of the relevant combatant commands of the validated intelligence and counterintelligence requirements, by specific intelligence capability type, of such combatant command.

(C) A risk analysis identifying the critical gaps and shortfalls in efforts to address operational and strategic requirements of the Department of Defense that would result from the failure to fulfill the validated intelligence and counterintelligence requirements of the relevant combatant commands.

(D) A mitigation plan to balance and offset the gaps and shortfalls identified under subparagraph (C), including with respect to spaceborne, airborne, ground, maritime, and cyber intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.

(E) For the year preceding the year in which the briefing is provided-

(i) the number of intelligence and counterintelligence requests of each commander of a relevant combatant command determined by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to be a validated requirement, and the total of capacity of such requests provided to each such commander;

(ii) with respect to such validated requirements-

(I) the quantity of intelligence and counterintelligence capabilities or activities, by specific intelligence capability type, that the Joint Chiefs of Staff requested each military department to provide; and

(II) the total of capacity of such requests so provided by each such military department; and

(iii) a qualitative assessment of the alignment of intelligence and counterintelligence capabilities and activities with the program of analysis for each combat support agency and intelligence center of a military service that is part of-

(I) the Defense Intelligence Enterprise; and

(II) the intelligence community.

(2) The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security shall provide to the congressional defense committees and the congressional intelligence committees a briefing on short-, mid-, and long-term strategies to address the validated intelligence and counterintelligence requirements of the relevant combatant commands, including with respect to spaceborne, airborne, ground, maritime, and cyber intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.

(3) The briefings required by paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be provided at the same time that the President's budget is submitted pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025.

(4) In this subsection:

(A) The term "congressional intelligence committees" has the meaning given that term in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).

(B) The term "Defense Intelligence Enterprise" means the organizations, infrastructure, and measures, including policies, processes, procedures, and products, of the intelligence, counterintelligence, and security components of each of the following:

(i) The Department of Defense.

(ii) The Joint Staff.

(iii) The combatant commands.

(iv) The military departments.

(v) Other elements of the Department of Defense that perform national intelligence, defense intelligence, intelligence-related, counterintelligence, or security functions.

(C) The term "fulfillment rate" means the percentage of combatant command intelligence and counterintelligence requirements satisfied by available, acquired, or realigned intelligence and counterintelligence capabilities or activities.

(D) The term "intelligence community" has the meaning given that term in section 3 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).

(Added Pub. L. 108–136, div. A, title IX, §923(c)(1), Nov. 24, 2003, 117 Stat. 1575 ; amended Pub. L. 109–364, div. A, title X, §1071(a)(3), Oct. 17, 2006, 120 Stat. 2398 ; Pub. L. 110–181, div. A, title IX, §931(a)(7), (8), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 285 ; Pub. L. 111–383, div. A, title IX, §922(b), Jan. 7, 2011, 124 Stat. 4331 ; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title XVI, §1625(b), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 2121 ; Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title XVI, §§1621(e)(1)(A)(vii), 1622, Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 1733 .)

Editorial Notes

Codification

Subsec. (c) of this section was based on Pub. L. 113–291, div. A, title XVI, §1626, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3635 ; Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title XVI, §1624, Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1732 ; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title XVI, §1625(a), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 2121 , which was transferred to this chapter, redesignated as subsec. (c) of this section by Pub. L. 115–232, §1625(b), and subsequently repealed.

Amendments

2019-Pub. L. 116–92, §1621(e)(1)(A)(vii), substituted "Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security" for "Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence" wherever appearing.

Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 116–92, §1622(a), amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (a) related to establishment and composition of an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Integration Council.

Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 116–92, §1622(b), added subsec. (b) and struck out former subsecs. (b) and (c) which related to ISR Integration Roadmap and annual briefing on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance requirements of the combatant commands, respectively.

2018-Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 115–232 transferred section 1626 of Pub. L. 113–291, as amended, to this section and redesignated it as subsec. (c). See Codification note above.

2011-Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 111–383 added par. (4).

2008-Subsecs. (a)(3), (b)(2). Pub. L. 110–181 substituted "Director of National Intelligence" for "Director of Central Intelligence".

2006-Subsec. (a)(1)(B). Pub. L. 109–364 substituted "coordination" for "coordiation".

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Integration of Defense Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Capabilities

Pub. L. 108–136, div. A, title IX, §923(a), (b), Nov. 24, 2003, 117 Stat. 1574 , 1575, as amended by Pub. L. 111–383, div. A, title IX, §922(a), Jan. 7, 2011, 124 Stat. 4330 , provided that:

"(a) Findings.-Congress makes the following findings:

"(1) As part of transformation efforts within the Department of Defense, each of the Armed Forces is developing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities that best support future war fighting as envisioned by the leadership of the military department concerned.

"(2) Concurrently, intelligence agencies of the Department of Defense outside the military departments are developing transformation roadmaps to best support the future decisionmaking and war fighting needs of their principal customers, but are not always closely coordinating those efforts with the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance development efforts of the military departments.

"(3) A senior official of each military department has been designated as the integrator of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance for each of the Armed Forces in such military department, but there is not currently a well-defined forum through which the integrators of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities for each of the Armed Forces can routinely interact with each other and with senior representatives of Department of Defense intelligence agencies, as well as with other members of the intelligence community, to ensure unity of effort and to preclude unnecessary duplication of effort.

"(4) The current funding structure of a National Intelligence Program (NIP) and a Military Intelligence Program (MIP) may not be the best approach for supporting the development of an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance structure that is integrated to meet the national security requirements of the United States in the 21st century.

"(5) The position of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence [now Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security] was established in 2002 by Public Law 107–314 [see 10 U.S.C. 137] in order to facilitate resolution of the challenges to achieving an integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance structure in the Department of Defense to meet such 21st century requirements.

"(b) Goal.-It shall be a goal of the Department of Defense to fully integrate the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities and coordinate the developmental activities of the military departments, intelligence agencies of the Department of Defense, and relevant combatant commands as those departments, agencies, and commands transform their intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems to meet current and future needs."