from my experience in US Army Intel, these service intel agencies
Twenty-Fifth Air Force
Intelligence and Security Command (Army)
Office of Naval Intelligence
Marine Corps Intelligence
Defense Intelligence Agency
(list courtsey of yefragetuwrabrumuy, post #22)
focus on tactical, operational, and strategic MILITARY FORCE threats in their area of expertise. Their focus is NOT on the of the “fake news/disinformation” of the type behind the “17 agencies....” balderdash.
These need not be freestanding.They need one administration and one cabinet officer.We are BROKE.Need to slim down on bureaucraps . NOW!!
On the surface, the real oddball just outside of the DoD group is Coast Guard Intelligence. While on the surface it belongs in Homeland Security, it is also hand and glove with the U.S. Public Health Service, under HHS, especially the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
That is, before foreign ships can dock in US ports, they must be inspected both by the Coast Guard and by the USPHS, to insure no smuggled or prohibited cargo or weapons or communicable diseases.
Early on, the Public Health Service realized that foreign sailors didn’t care one whit about civilians inspecting them, and only paid attention to naval uniforms, which is why they, up to the Surgeon General, now wear the uniforms of commissioned officers sometimes.
So the Coast Guard has to ferry the doctors as well as carry out their own duties. Oh, and if the foreign ship has some nasty disease on it, the Coast Guard ship is tasked with preventing it from approaching the US until the all clear as given, implicit that the same rule applies to the CG ship if any of their personnel are taken down.
And in some cases, the Coast Guard is bundled with the Merchant Marine, which in time of war is under the Navy as auxiliaries, but in peacetime is either civilian or federally owned ships.
Of course, most of CG Intelligence is about drug interdiction, so lots of ties with the DEA under the Justice Department. Complicated, but it works.