New Procedures for Intelligence System Acquisition
The Director of National Intelligence issued a directive last month prescribing procedures for major system acquisitions by elements of the intelligence community.
The directive defines a multi-phase process for identifying critical needs, evaluating alternative paths to meet those needs, and so forth.
See Intelligence Community Directive 115, “Intelligence Community Capability Requirements Process,” December 21, 2012.
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.
It will take consistent leadership and action to navigate the complex dangers in the region and to avoid what many analysts considered to be an increasingly possible outcome, a nuclear conflict in East Asia.
Getting into a shutdown is the easy part, getting out is much harder. Both sides will be looking to pin responsibility on each other, and the court of public opinion will have a major role to play as to who has the most leverage for getting us out.
How the United States responds to China’s nuclear buildup will shape the global nuclear balance for the rest of the century.