Protecting America’s Freedom in the Information Age

Many Americans understandably believe that technology is the source of America’s military and economic power. They believe this so much that they often seek technological solutions to essentially human problems. But America’s technological achievements—in weaponry, commerce and science—are merely the reflections of strengths in our society, a society that has evolved and is organized supremely well to unleash and promote human initiative. Though we need technology to secure our nation, a successful domestic intelligence and information strategy should start with the way we organize people to take advantage of innovation.

The way we obtain and use information will determine how well we can protect freedom while striving to attain the objectives set forth in the President’s National Strategy for Homeland Security, to:

• prevent terrorist attacks within the United States

reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism; and

minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur

Our vision starts with development of a networked and national homeland security community in agencies, firms and neighborhoods. In connecting for security, we outline the elements of a next-generation national security infrastructure. We also discuss the organization of domestic intelligence collection and analysis in Washington, D.C., within a framework that respects our nation’s traditions and liberties.