Congress Tells Intelligence Agencies To Integrate Space Efforts

The newly enacted fiscal year 2017 intelligence author‎ization act requires the director of national intelligence (DNI) to develop a plan to better integrate the intelligence community’s space and counter-space efforts.

The DNI is expected to work with the defense secretary on the plan, which is supposed to include such matters as acquisition, analysis, collection and policy.

“The congressional intelligence committees believe the current fragmented arrangement across the [intelligence community] does not provide sufficient coherence to meet the threat, fosters duplication, hinders integrated congressional oversight, and impedes effective alignment with the Department of Defense space activities,” lawmakers wrote.

Congress inserted the intelligence legislation into the larger FY 2017 omnibus appropriations act, which President Donald Trump signed into law May 5.

The intelligence measure addresses several other matters involving space, unmanned systems and cyber security. Citing the advent of state-owned spaceports and their potential use for national security launches, it directs the DNI to work with DoD and the Air Force to develop a plan to use such facilities.

The “committees believe that these facilities may be able to provide additional flexibility and resilience to the nation’s launch infrastructure, especially as the nation considers concepts such as the reconstitution of satellites to address the growing foreign counter-space threat,” lawmakers wrote.

For unmanned systems, the intelligence legislation urges the Army and Marine Corps to explore the feasibility of collaborating in their efforts to develop common controllers for small unmanned aerial vehicles.

“The congressional intelligence committees support the Army’s efforts to develop a common controller for the RQ-7A/B Shadow and the RQ-11B Raven tactical” UAVs, lawmakers wrote. “However, the committees are concerned that the Army is not collaborating with the Marine Corps on similar efforts to develop a ground controller for the Marine Corps family of tactical unmanned aerial systems, including the RQ-11B Raven, the RQ-12A Wasp and the RQ-20A Puma.”

For cyber security, the intelligence legislation directs the undersecretary of homeland security for intelligence analysis to submit a report on cyber threats to seaports and maritime shipping.