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'National Intelligence Estimates' (NIEs), produced by the National Intelligence Council, express the coordinated judgments of the US Intelligence Community made up of 16 intelligence agencies, and thus represent the most authoritative assessment of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) with respect to a particular national security issue. NIEs are considered to be "estimative" intelligence products, in that they present what intelligence analysts estimate (not predict) may be the course of future events. Coordination of NIEs involves not only trying to resolve any interagency differences, but also assigning confidence levels to the key judgments and rigorously evaluating the sourcing for them. Each NIE is reviewed and approved for dissemination by the National Intelligence Board (NIB), which comprises the DNI and other senior Intelligence Community leaders within the Intelligence Community.
National Intelligence Estimates are classified documents prepared for policy-makers.

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History

See Also

External links

History

National Intelligence Estimates were first produced in 1950 by the Office of National Estimates. This office was superseded in 1973 by National Intelligence Officers. This group of experts became the National Intelligence Council in 1979. In the early years, the National Intelligence Council reported to the Director of Central Intelligence in his role as the head of the Intelligence Community. However, in 2005, the Director of National Intelligence became the head of the Intelligence Community.

See Also

★ Intellipedia

External links

★ Council on Foreign Relations - October 2002 NIE on "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs"

★ Washington Post story - NIE says Iran is 10 years from a nuclear bomb

★ New York Times September 24, 2006 Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terror Threat - National Intelligence Estimate "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States"

★ Intelligence Estimate Warns Iraq Could Get Worse

★ ''Iraq’s Continuing Program for Weapons of Mass Destruction'', key judgments from NIE produced in October, 2002.

★ Iraq National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) - "Prospects for Iraq's Stability: A Challenging Road Ahead" Unclassified Key Judgments - Released on Friday, February 2, 2007.

★ "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States" - Declassified version from The Office of the Director of National Intelligence

★ ''The Primary Purpose of National Estimating'' by Harold P. Ford, a wholly theoretical example of what might have been published prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

★ ''A Crucial Estimate Relived'' by Sherman Kent, a reevaluation of a 1962 NIE proclaiming the Soviet Union would not put offensive weapons in Cuba.