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Domestic Intelligence

Not all threats to a nation's security arise from outside actors. RAND has studied not only how to counter "homegrown" terrorism in the United States but also the ways that other nations have addressed threats to their internal stability.

Report

Options for Strengthening All-Source Intelligence: Substantive Change Is Within Reach

Foreign attacks against the United States occur frequently. The authors propose game-changing ideas to enable intelligence analysts to address long-standing challenges related to the use of open sources, analytic tradecraft, and politicization.

Feb 28, 2022
Commentary

Countering Domestic Terrorism May Require Rethinking U.S. Intelligence Strategy

The United States is deeply divided, its political system polarized. Getting counterterrorism wrong could make the situation worse. The challenge is to isolate and contain violent extremists without turning them into political martyrs or half the country into enemies of the state.

Oct 5, 2021
Journal Article

Building on Clues: Methods to Help State and Local Law Enforcement Detect and Characterize Terrorist Activity (Final Report)

This project considered the collection and use of suspicious activity reports at the state and local level.

Apr 29, 2021
Commentary

An Early Policy Victory for DNI Haines: Boost the Priority of Open Sources Information

The quantity, quality, and accessibility of publicly available information has exploded over the past decades. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has an opportunity to advance intelligence community mission activities on several key issues shaped by the digital information age, including the role of publicly available information.

Mar 4, 2021
Testimony

Addressing the Threat of Domestic Violent Extremism

The attack on the Capitol was an unprecedented assault on America’s political system. How might a national commission to review the events of January 6 offer a road to national recovery? And what can be done to address broader threats from violent domestic extremists?

Feb 4, 2021
Report

Looking to the Future of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP): Assessment of the Consolidation of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) and the DIBP (2016–2017)

This report summarizes the results of a follow-on evaluation of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and informs the upcoming transition to an Australian Department of Home Affairs.

Jun 18, 2018
Commentary

Presidential Intelligence Briefings: The Process Is Working. But Is Trump Listening?

President Trump receives intelligence briefings on a fairly regular basis and he appears engaged in discussions with senior staff and the intelligence community about content. Ideally, this process is informing his national security decisionmaking.

Feb 15, 2018
Commentary

How to Harden America's Soft Targets

The U.S. government must choose where to apply limited resources to defend soft targets. But it could expand its information-sharing efforts with other governments and local law enforcement. Broad intelligence sharing and more training could help identify potential attackers before they can execute their plans.

Jul 5, 2017
Commentary

Domestic Terrorism: Weighing the Challenges

The U.S. is struggling to find an effective way to counter violent extremism at home and counteract the presence of terrorist groups on social media. Policymakers are tasked with managing a military defeat of IS in the Middle East while lowering the risk of blowback in the U.S. at the same time.

Apr 13, 2017
Commentary

Three Ways to Improve Australia's Intelligence Capability

Intelligence agencies should become centers of expertise, focus on what matters for their customers, and coordinate a network of partners. To better deliver on these three priorities, the Australian Intelligence Community should consider a leadership structure with authority to guide and coordinate these processes.

Apr 4, 2017
Commentary

Adapting the President's Daily Brief to Trump

President-elect Trump is receiving President Obama's version of the daily briefing; it has yet to be tailored to his preferences, to which every president is entitled. The intelligence community should seek to adapt the briefing to maximize its interest and relevance to the president-elect.

Jan 6, 2017
Commentary

The Case for Analyst Perspectives in the Intelligence Community

The intelligence community should give analysts a channel to convey their individual insights. This would give policymakers well-reasoned alternative views.

Oct 20, 2016
Report

Assessment of the Consolidation of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP)

In 2014, the Australian government integrated its Customs and Border Protection Service and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Analysis examines what these organisations looked like separately, and provides guidance for the newly formed single department.

Sep 14, 2016
News Release

U.S. National Security Decisionmaking Processes Need Trimming

Increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the National Security Council is necessary as the country contends with many more state and nonstate actors, around-the-clock public scrutiny, and exploding nontraditional threats.

Apr 5, 2016
Report

U.S. National Security Decisionmaking Processes Need Streamlining

The U.S. national security system faces a range of management challenges. A leaner, more focused national security decisionmaking system can help the United States succeed in a period of tumultuous change.

Apr 5, 2016
Commentary

Predicting the 'Dangerousness' of Potential Terrorists

Predicting 'dangerousness' of potential terrorists is a hit-and-miss endeavor. Unless someone is waving a gun, it is extremely difficult. Even with direct access to the subject, parole boards, suicide prevention units, and even trained clinicians get it wrong.

Mar 2, 2015
Report

How Do We Know What Information Sharing Is Really Worth? Exploring Methodologies to Measure the Value of Information Sharing and Fusion Efforts

This report discusses the challenges of evaluating information-sharing efforts that seek to achieve multiple goals simultaneously; reviews past evaluations of information-sharing programs; and lays out a path to improving the evaluation of such efforts.

Jun 18, 2014
Commentary

Fight Today's Terrorist Threat, Not Yesterday's

Counterterrorism is not just about daring raids and drone strikes. It is about the hard work of collecting and sifting through vast amounts of information and managing relationships among organizations that often regard sharing information as an unnatural act.

Feb 7, 2014
Report

Identifying Enemies Among Us: Evolving Terrorist Threats and the Continuing Challenges of Domestic Intelligence Collection and Information Sharing

Officials, practitioners, and counterterrorism experts gathered this year to examine domestic intelligence and information sharing as they relate to terrorist threats.

Jan 13, 2014
Commentary

Needed: Sustainable Spying Oversight

Domestic intelligence in the United States is an activity with a history, and efforts to consider future policy on this issue need to take that history into account, writes Brian Jackson. Public acceptability must be part of the calculus in devising oversight and control of intelligence efforts.

Sep 18, 2013

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Richard S. Girven

Senior International/Defense Research Analyst

Rich Girven (he/him) is a senior international defense research analyst at the RAND Corporation. He came to RAND from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where he served as the Director of Analysis. A former career Army Foreign Area Officer focusing principally on South Asia, he served…
Heather J. Williams

Acting Associate Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center

Heather Williams is acting associate director, International Security and Defense Policy Center, part of the RAND National Security Research Division. She is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, and a professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School. Williams previously served as…

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