17 Intelligence agencies. . . . the questions no one has asked

a reply to: Ohanka

Yeah look how that turned out for them.
Lol.

originally posted by: drewlander
a reply to: DBCowboy

Very good question. I never bothered to count the agencies, but since this thread was started I'm inclined to believe there are more than 17.

Worse, each of those agencies has a horde of sub-agencies that are not always running in lock step with the others within the same agency.

For example. You don't see "DOD" on there, other than as DIA. But there are intelligence agencies under, say, SOCOM that are not spoken of. More than one, in fact. And they don't report to DIA. So, IMHO, you need to put DOD down as one.

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: drewlander
a reply to: DBCowboy

Very good question. I never bothered to count the agencies, but since this thread was started I'm inclined to believe there are more than 17.

Worse, each of those agencies has a horde of sub-agencies that are not always running in lock step with the others within the same agency.

For example. You don't see "DOD" on there, other than as DIA. But there are intelligence agencies under, say, SOCOM that are not spoken of. More than one, in fact. And they don't report to DIA. So, IMHO, you need to put DOD down as one.

And FEMA.

I guess so many ATS member don't read anything other than Drudge, and A. Jones. They should try some Littell....

a reply to: Sillyolme

I cannot even begin to craft a sufficient response to this statement.

Nazi Germany was bad, okay? If your state spies more than they did, it's likely a SERIOUS cause for concern.

originally posted by: DBCowboy

Twenty-Fifth Air Force
Intelligence and Security Command
Central Intelligence Agency
Coast Guard Intelligence
Defense Intelligence Agency
Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence
Office of Intelligence and Analysis
Bureau of Intelligence and Research
Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence
Office of National Security Intelligence
Intelligence Branch Federal Bureau of Investigation
Marine Corps Intelligence Activity
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
National Reconnaissance Office
National Security Agency/Central Security Service
Office of Naval Intelligence

en.wikipedia.org...

The Washington Post reported in 2010 that there were 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies in 10,000 locations in the United States that are working on counterterrorism, homeland security, and intelligence, and that the intelligence community as a whole includes 854,000 people holding top-secret clearances.[2] According to a 2008 study by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, private contractors make up 29% of the workforce in the U.S. intelligence community and account for 49% of their personnel budgets.[3]

According to wiki, there are 16, not 17. So who is the 17th?

Also according to wiki, there are nearly a million people working "intelligence".

Do we really need close to a million spies?

Everyone talks about the "17 intelligence agencies" that say Russia is spying on us. But no one is asking WHO the agencies are, WHY we need 17 agencies, and WHAT are they spying on!?

I don't know either. But I thought I'd ask the questions.

Does anyone have any answers?

The circle of trust is very small but their Resources are may. The force to reccon With are the majestic 12.

If there was any less than the current amount of intel workers, then the level of plausible deniability would decrease to the level of accountability.

It's why our country is seen by it's own people as well as others abroad as being run by idiots. But still able to make decisions that keep the country as is.

It's also important to have a large number of people in a field if corruption and / or shady events are carried out without wanting the public to know about it. The large numbers gives many places to hide or play a shell game inside of.

I bet the 17th agency isn't even real.

A quote that fits perfectly with this thread:

Military Intelligence is a Contradiction in Terms

originally posted by: Ohanka
I do wonder why the Department of Energy needs an Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and why the Department of the Treasury needs an Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. The latter is a very unfortunate name by the way.

The 17th agency is probably the Central Security Service, it's on the list, next to the National Security Agency.

The Department of the Treasury would be investigating insider-dealing, cash-flow of terrorists.
DoE would be investigating any export of technology.

a reply to: DBCowboy
Your title of 17 intelligence agencies is a little misleading, I see only four in your list; the rest are sub 'offices', 'commands', etc under higher organizations.

FWIW your post caught my attention because I retired from one of those 3 letter agencies and knew that figure of 17 three letter agencies was way off.

That said, there is no 17th Agency; and four 'agencies' is more than enough.

1) Central Intelligence Agency
2) Defense Intelligence Agency
3) National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
4) National Security Agency
.

a reply to: DBCowboy

Why do you need 17,

All you need is three.

Domestic security

Forign affairs agency

Military intelligence

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: Ohanka

Yeah look how that turned out for them.
Lol.

UK only has 3.

Mi5
Mi6
GCHQ

We are doing extremly well and have a very effective system.

a reply to: lunarcartographer

I used the title because it is being bandied about so much lately by everyone.

So I decided to actually "look" at what they were talking about with the "17".

originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: DBCowboy

Why do you need 17,

All you need is three.

Domestic security

Forign affairs agency

Military intelligence

I know. Seems a bit overkill, if you ask me.

a reply to: DBCowboy

Well we can see what a disaster 9/11 was.

If all these diffrent agency's had been talking then it likely would never have happend. It seems each agency had a bit of the puzzle but they never put it together and 3000 died...

a reply to: crazyewok

Are all agencies looking into the Russian hack? Seems so when news reports that 17 agencies think so.

And if all 17 are looking into Russian hacks, then who is spying on the UK?

a reply to: DBCowboy

The UK is spying on the UK remember all our metadata gets pooled with NSA

Actually i have heard UK and US intelligence agency's coperate more than US agencys with each other!

a reply to: crazyewok

Are there really that many secrets, that we need so many spies to keep track of them all?

a reply to: DBCowboy

The 17th could be Office of the Director of National Intelligence - the overseeing entity of the 16 you have mentioned?

The IC (United States Intelligence Community) is headed by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), whose statutory leadership is exercised through the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). - wiki

originally posted by: Ohanka
a reply to: DBCowboy

Therein lies the question. Most countries make do with between 1-4. Even the most perverse totalitarian states don't have 17 separate intelligence organisations.

Even Nazi Germany got along with only 3.

Nazi Germany lost the war.

originally posted by: Ohanka
I do wonder why the Department of Energy needs an Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and why the Department of the Treasury needs an Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. The latter is a very unfortunate name by the way.

People tend to forget that the DoE started off as the Atomic Energy Commission and are still in charge of security around nuclear plants and nuclear material not under military control. And as for the Treasury, if you wanna get technical the Secret Service are US Treasury agents. Not to mention that somebody needs to investigate things like the HSBC money laundering scheme, or attempts at economic warfare like Operation Bernhard.