The DCI's Family of National Intelligence Guidance Documents

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00506R000100120023-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 4, 2003
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: April 28, 1975
• Content Type: REPORT

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28 April 1975
The DCI's Family of National Intelligence
Guidance Documents
1. The DCI relies on four major documents to provide guidance
to the Intelligence Community on substantive intelligence priorities.
They are listed below in ascending order of specificity.
a. Perspectives for Intelligence
b. Objectives for the Intelligence Community
c. Key Intelligence Questions
d. United.States Foreign Intelligence Priorities (usually'
referred to as DCID 1/2, of which it is an attachment)
2. The first three were initiated by Mr. Colby and are closely
interrelated. The Objectives are derived from the Perspectives, and
the KIQs are a refinement of the Objectives. The fourth document,
in one form or another, has existed since the-1950's and is a prior-
itized index of the whole gamut of intelligence requirements by topic
and geographical area. These documents are normally reviewed and
revised annually.
3. Perspectives for Intelligence, 1975-80
This document was issued by the DCI in July 1974. It
consists of three parts. Part I is entitled Major VTorld Problems
and describes the world environment in'which the Intelligence Com-
munity is expected to have to function during the balance of the
1970's. It projects major world trends and forecasts major changes
in the world environment.
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4. I'-Part II of the Perspectives paper i.s entitled the Role of
Intell_ience. It describes in general terms what are likely to be
the major areas of priority and focus, and the major problems,
for the Intelligence Community during the coming five years. It
attempts to illuminate how intelligence priorities are most likely
to change over this time span.
5. Part III is entitled Implications for Plannipg. It describes
management problems which the changing world environment is
likely to impose on the Intelligence Community and suggests broad
areas of activity that will require special consideration and focus.
It is intended to stimulate early action on matters requiring planning,
research or development.
6. A revised version of the Perspectives, to. cover the period
1976-81, is currently in preparation. Consideration is being given
to the inclusion of a fourth section which will attempt, in very general
terms, to project world trends, and their implications for intelligence,
to the year 2000.
7. Ol ectives for the Intelligence Community for FY 1975
This document, submitted to the President annually, sets
forth the DCI's substantive and management objectives for the
Intelligence Community. Although still in a broad framework,
intelligence objectives are identified in more specific terms than
in. the Perspectives paper and are keyed to a one-year time frame.
The substantive objectives in this document identify the following
priority areas of intelligence interest:
a. Soviet political, security and economic policies
and intentions;
b. Soviet military and political capabilities to exert
influence or power outside the USSR;
c. Soviet compliance with the Strategic Arms Limitation
agreements and the Limited Test Ban Treaty, the Mutual
Balanced Force Reduction and similar negotiations;
d. Internal and external policies and capabilities of
the Peoples' Republic of China;
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e. Political, security and economic situations or
crises significantly affecting United States interests; and
f. International economic policy decisions and
negotiations relevant to vital interests of the United
States.
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10. Ideally, these guidance documents should drive the resource
allocation and decision-making process. As such, they should be
issued very early in the program development process--January/
February each year. Each of the first three documents should build
on the previous one, identifying with more precision--as one advances
from Perspectives to KIQs-.-those areas of priority intelligence
concern around which resource requirements should be developed.
Moreover, visibility should be provided throughout the resource
allocation process to the relationship between resource decisions
and substantive intelligence requirements. Finally, the Key
Intelligence Question Evaluation Process (KEP) should provide
some measure of how well. we did and further insight into the
resource allocation process, as the cycle begins again the following
year.
11. Because of the relatively recent origin of these guidance
documents and bureaucratic problems involved in meshing them into
(or substituting them for) past requirements systems, it has not yet
been possible to meet all the criteria of the preceding paragraph.
They have already, however, provided to the Community as a whole
a common focus which it has never had in the past.
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