Speakers & Organizers   

www.defensegroupinc.com/cira Biography
    Kevin O'Connell is the Director of the Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis (CIRA) in Washington, D.C. and Vice President for Intelligence Community Programs with Defense Group Incorporated. His professional interests include national security decision-making, intelligence and intelligence policy issues, and the policy, security, and market issues related to commercial remote sensing. Mr. O'Connell serves on a number of senior government panels, including the DHS Information Policy Board and a DARPA-NGA panel. He is also the Chairman of NOAA's Federal Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) and previously served as the staff Director of the Independent Commission on the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) (1999-2000). Mr. O'Connell also served as the first Director of RAND's Intelligence Policy Center (2001-2004) during almost a decade at RAND.

    Mr. O'Connell joined the Department of Defense in November 1982, and served in various positions as a senior staff officer and intelligence analyst. In 1986, he joined the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research as a research analyst. In 1990, he was assigned as the Senior Analyst in the White House Situation Room, National Security Council, and later served as a Special Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs. From 1993-1995, Mr. O'Connell served on the Community Management Staff of the Director of Central Intelligence, where he was responsible for assessing non-traditional intelligence activities, including the DCI's Openness initiative. Mr. O'Connell then spent almost ten years with RAND in both research and managerial capacities.

    Mr. O'Connell graduated from the Ohio State University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies. He also undertook graduate training in national security studies at George Washington University, and received a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Maryland in 1992.

    Mr. O'Connell's recent research activities have included various research assessments for the U.S. intelligence community, including collection, analysis, and intelligence-sharing issues. He has also led research efforts on the market and security issues associated with commercial remote sensing. He has lectured and taught extensively about intelligence, including at the RAND Graduate School and Georgetown University.

    Mr. O'Connell has authored a number of papers and monographs, largely in the areas of intelligence and commercial remote sensing. He has recently written an article on "thinking comparatively about intelligence" as well as maintaining an "information edge in intelligence, in addition to reports on the U.S. commercial remote sensing industry. His edited volume, entitled "Commercial Observation Satellites: At the Leading Edge of Global Transparency," was published in April 2000 by RAND and ASPRS.

    Mr. O'Connell received a Sustained Superior Performance Award form the U.S. National Security Advisor for his work in the White House Situation Room. He has received a Distinguished Speaker Award from the Department of Defense. He also received the Outstanding Service Award from the American Society for Photo grammetry and Remote Sensing in 2002.

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Session HS31: Session Name
February 20, 9:00-9:45 Whither American Intelligence for the Homeland?
Abstract:
This presentation will address the issue of U.S. intelligence and how it is emerging for U.S. homeland security. Traditionally, tight bureaucratic and administrative boundaries governed the management of U.S. intelligence into "foreign" and "domestic" activities, with growing inefficiencies and vulnerabilities since the end of the Cold War. Al Qaeda took advantage of some of these bureaucratic artifacts on September 11th 2001.

While the need to change is clear, how it should change is less certain, for both operational and political reasons. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004, for example, offered a new construct for U.S. intelligence that included both a foreign and domestic aspect, to be worked synergistically. But implementation is slow and troubled as federal, state, and local organizations struggle with how to effectively communicate threat information and analytic perspectives. Authorities, skills, and areas of focus often overlap or provide glaring weaknesses for our security. Traditional American suspicions and concerns about the civil liberties implications views on intelligence in the homeland.

This presentation will assess the nature, the potential, and the limits of U.S. intelligence for homeland security. It will look at the strategic realities of what intelligence must do - warn against ALL possible threats – and identify areas where improvements can be made. It will also identify new collaborations between the public and private sectors.