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Summary:
Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) functions which are
principal elements of U.S. defense capabilities include a wide variety of systems for
acquiring and processing information needed by national security decisionmakers and
military commanders. ISR systems range in size from hand-held devices to orbiting
satellites. Some collect basic information for a wide range of analytical products;
others are designed to acquire data for specific weapons systems. Some are
"national" systems intended primarily to collect information of interest to
Washington-area agencies; others are "tactical" systems intended to support military
commanders on the battlefield. Collectively, they account for a major portion of U.S.
intelligence spending that, according to media estimates, amounts to some $40 billion
annually. This report provides a description of ISR budgeting and management
issues and serves as background for consideration of efforts to reassess current
arrangements. It will be updated if circumstances warrant.
Congress has increasingly expressed concern about the costs and management
of ISR programs. With minor exceptions, ISR acquisition is coordinated by the
Defense Department and the Intelligence Community. Although there are longexisting
staff mechanisms for reviewing and coordinating ISR programs in the
context of the annual budget submissions, many in Congress believe that existing
procedures have not avoided duplication of effort, excessive costs, and gaps in
coverage. Examples that some observers cite are separate efforts to acquire a new
generation of reconnaissance satellites and a high altitude unmanned aerial vehicle
(UAV) known as Global Hawk. Both systems acquire some of the same sorts of
information and serve similar customers, but they are acquired in distinctly different
ways; moreover, in both cases procurement efforts have been beset by increasing
costs and schedule delays.
Reflecting congressional concerns about the efficacy of current procedures,
recently enacted statutes mandate better integration of ISR capabilities and require
that the Defense Department prepare a roadmap to guide the development and
integration of ISR capabilities over the next fifteen years. An effective roadmap, if
developed, could potentially ensure more comprehensive coverage of targets and save
considerable sums of money. Some critics -- including the National Commission
on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission), however, go
further, arguing that current ISR problems can only be resolved by a major
reorganization of the Intelligence Community. The 9/11 Commission specifically
recommends that a new position of Director of National Intelligence be established
to manage the national intelligence program (but not joint military and tactical
intelligence programs which would managed solely by the Defense Department).
