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(U//FOUO) Wanted: More SIGINT for the President's Daily Brief
FROM: Carl Johnson
SID/Deputy Director for Analysis & Production (S2)
Run Date: 03/01/2006
(U//FOUO) Carl Johnson sent the below message to the Analysis & Production workforce last
week:
(U//FOUO) The Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 and the WMD* Commission Report call for more
collaboration across the Intelligence Community in the production of the President's Daily
Briefing (PDB). In response, the Director of National Intelligence has taken action to ensure that
the views of all IC agencies are considered in the PDB.
(U//FOUO) To manage its participation in the PDB-production process, NSA established
the Executive Support Staff (ESS) within the Office of Strategic Intelligence Issues (S17).
This team leverages an extensive network of SIGINT Directorate, Information Assurance
Directorate, and National Threat Operations Center subject matter experts and product line
managers to produce original, NSA-authored articles.
(C) I strongly support and encourage Analysis and Production's important role in this
effort. Representatives from each of the A&P product lines participate in the weekly PDB
production planning meeting where ideas for NSA-authored articles are generated and
discussed. This group of production managers, technical directors and recognized subject matter
experts also collaborates on PDB articles authored by IC colleagues who rely heavily on SIGINT
reporting in their analysis. This network works closely with the ESS to reply quickly to questions
from the President and his closest advisors generated by their reading of PDB articles or standalone SIGINT reports.
(U//FOUO) Some intrepid A&P analysts have already braved the rigorous PDB editorial process
to produce several articles. To demonstrate SID's commitment to NSA participation in the PDB,
the Acting Deputy Signals Intelligence Director recently recognized their achievement with "firsttime PDB publication" certificates, issued and signed by the ADDNI*-PDB.
(U//FOUO) We are off to a good start, but my expectation is that we can and should be
doing more. Your prolific SIGINT production offers fertile ground for the cultivation of PDB
articles. For example, in the period of time the five PDB articles mentioned above were
published, A&P produced over 80,000 SIGINT reports. Some of these reports were placed
directly into PDB briefing books while our IC colleagues used many others as the basis for their
PDB articles. Now that the PDB is a collaborative effort, I encourage you to consider using
the SIGINT you produce as the basis for PDB articles of interest to the President. Few
understand what the SIGINT means better than us.
(U//FOUO) This won't be easy, but few worthwhile things are. I know that writing for the PDB
takes a commitment of time and energy that conflicts with the daily production of SIGINT; I'm
willing to accept that tradeoff. The PDB also demands a different style of analysis and writing. I
believe that as skilled analysts and writers, you can rise to these challenges and produce quality
PDB articles. The commitment is there from SID and A&P management. You can find the
assistance and guidance you need from the PDB Leads and the Executive Support Staff. Now it
is up to you.
*(U) Notes: WMD = Weapons of Mass Destruction
ADDNI = Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence
"(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