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(U//FOUO) 'RAC'-ing and Stacking Customer Information Needs
FROM:
,
,
Requirements Analysis Center (S114)
Run Date: 09/27/2005
and
(U//FOUO) Talk about change! The Requirements Analysis Center, RAC (S114), is located in
the Customer Relationships Directorate (CRD) and is part of the Customer Gateway Office. Our
goal is to provide SID senior leadership, Issue Management Teams, SID organizations, as well as
external customers, a pertinent analysis of customer information needs to support mission and
resource decision-making. The RAC is constantly changing "our look" as we adapt to improve
the products and services we offer to address our customer requests. Our current products and
services include:
(U//FOUO) Decision Based Needs Assessments: This process is a work in progress whereby
NSA gathers customer needs on a given issue, determines existing gaps in the SIGINT response
to those needs, and devises a SIGINT Strategy to close those gaps, if possible.
(S) Key Reads: Key Reads are customer-driven needs tied to a specific, near-term (generally
less than 72 hours) customer event, action, decision, or outcome for which the customer
expects a cryptologic product or service. The RAC established the initial Key Reads process to
support operational intelligence needs in Iraq and Afghanistan and continues to play a major role
in expanding this process to other intelligence issues. For more information on Key Reads,
please go to: Key Reads homepage and see the recent SID today article .
(U//FOUO) Information Need (IN) Performance Management Data: The RAC has
established and documented a formal set of business rules for acquiring metrics data related to
National SIGINT Requirements Process (NSRP) Information Need satisfaction. The rules are used
to generate metrics data to support the NSA Strategic Plan and by various SID organizations to
generate production metrics based on IN response.
(U//FOUO) Intelligence Support Plan IN Mapping: Recently the RAC began to collaborate
with Customer Gateway's Military Customer Account Management organization (S113) to work
with the Combatant Commands. The RAC has begun to review selective Intelligence Support
Plans (ISPs) to determine whether Information Needs exist that respond to the intelligence
issues represented in the ISPs.
(U//FOUO) 2ND Party Reporting Analysis: As a result of the Customer Relationship
Conference held in Canberra, Australia, in March 2005, the RAC is working with our 2nd party
partners to review and evaluate selected 2nd Party reporting to determine what Information
Needs they may be uniquely responding to, how strong the response is, and whether
improvements can be made. Our partners are conducting similar evaluations of 1st party
reporting that supports their customer needs.
(S) Information Needs (INs) Profiles and Evaluations: The RAC analyzes the SIGINT INs
levied via the NSRP and provides a variety of products and services that categorizes the IN
make-up of a specific Geographic Target (Iran) and/or a Topic (Terrorism). These products and
services include:
Basic IN Profile: Snapshot of NSRP data by country and/or topic. These reports are a
unique product in that they are also posted to INTELINK. These reports can be found at:
Statistical IN Profile: Snapshot of NSRP data by country and/or topic with limited
production statistics (primarily SIGINT serialized reporting from the PLUS Management
Information System).
Evaluation: Snapshot of NSRP data by country and/or topic with limited production
statistics and a qualitative review of the SIGINT response.
(S) The NSRP system is under constant flux as INs are updated, closed, or new ones added. At
any given time, there are approximately 3000 Information Needs active in the system. Our
reports often provide the only holistic view of the size and scope of intelligence issues against
specific targets or topical issues, as well as the often-broad customer set who have either
originated or have interest in the issues outlined in the INs. For some targets, there are
hundreds of Information Needs levied by our customers. We have prepared reports that have
reviewed all the INs associated with a target like Iran and that look at very specific issues such
as the use of Chemical, Biological, Radiological or Nuclear weapons by terrorists.
(U//FOUO) Since its inception in October 2002, the RAC has grown from 2 to 34 analysts and
continues to grow. We have issued over 130 formal reports and a large number of smaller
"quick-response" reports. Customer requests for our products and services continue to grow. We
have kept pace by developing standardized processes, improving analyst training and
developing tools to facilitate data manipulation. Overall, we continue to receive positive feedback
on our products and services.
(U//FOUO) The RAC also continues to look at new tools to improve the products and services it
produces. Recently a new WEB based tool was procured that will provide a greatly improved
search capability against NSRP data, allow the creation of standardized queries that will provide
regular updates to Country and/or Topical IN profiles, and allow other organizations to stay
current on these changes as they occur. Full implementation of this tool is expected by the end
of 2005.
(U) For a listing of the reports the RAC has published, please visit our web site .
Also, if your organization would like to request a Geographic Target or Topical profile, please
contact us at: DL RAC_FEEDBACK.
For more information about the RAC or for positions available in our organization, please call
or
at
.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
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DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108