Former Intelligence Leader Details Roles Played in National Security

CAPE MAY – Balancing civil liberties, while protecting Americans and American assets, is a continuing struggle for the U.S. intelligence community, according to a former leader and advisor to two presidents. 
The Honorable Joan Dempsey spoke about how the domestic and foreign intelligence community has evolved since the Cold War as part of the fifth annual Lessons of History Distinguished Lecture Series sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities Inc. (MAC) and Martel Associates Oct. 9.
Dempsey was the first woman confirmed by the Senate for one of the top three U.S. intelligence positions when she served as deputy director of Central Intelligence for Community Management under former President Bill Clinton and was executive director of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Board under former President George W. Bush.
She also is the former assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and security; former deputy director of defense intelligence for analysis and production; former naval reserve officer and former naval cryptologist. She currently is an executive vice president in consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton’s defense and intelligence business where she leads the National Agencies Account.
Her more than “45 years of intelligence and policy experience, combined with her rare position as a senior political appointee in both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, give her the ultimate insider’s perspective on the history of modern U.S. intelligence,” according to MAC.
“The dictionary definition of a patriot is someone who is devoted vigorously to defending the country,” said Dr. Myles Martel, chairperson of MAC’s Lessons of History team, as he introduced Dempsey.
“Joan has exemplified that definition for more than 35 years since she was an 18-year-old teenager from Arkansas who joined the Navy,” he added.
Dempsey spoke about being the first woman assigned to a base in Japan in 1974 where she worked as a naval cryptologist monitoring broadcasts from Russian vessels.
She also spoke about her career’s progression, calling it “exciting, exotic and intoxicating.”
“There were three themes around the intelligence-gathering community,” she noted about the years following World War II.
The first theme was the protection of civil liberties and the separation of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) operations from other intelligence agencies operating within the U.S.
Established after World War II, Dempsey said the CIA legally could not operate within the U.S. nor work with police or other law enforcement agencies.
“During the Cold War, there was a struggle between the 16 agencies that made up the intelligence community,” she explained, noting the second theme about roles and responsibilities.
The Cold War was between 1947-91 and described the state of political and military tension after World War II between the powers of the Eastern and Western blocs. It was called a “Cold War” because no large-scale fighting occurred between the two sides.
Dempsey said the CIA’s role was to counter any Russian expansion and prevent nuclear attacks.
When the CIA was charged with violating civil rights in 1974 after surveillance of anti-Vietnam War groups within the U.S. (Operation CHAOS), laws were established prohibiting domestic spying.
The apparent need to surveil Americans may have been driven by the third theme governing the intelligence community, that of not sharing information between agencies.
“We operated under a need-to-know basis, rather than sharing information,” Dempsey said. “We needed to protect our agents, our sources, and our missions.”
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the mission for the CIA “disappeared,” causing cuts to budgets and discussions about new missions. “In the 1980s, the world was changing and the intelligence community needed to change,” Dempsey said.
The advent of the Internet, cyberspace, real-time data and information, and new analytics caused various leaders to re-evaluate how the intelligence community needed to operate. “It was a new world of crime,” she added.
Sept. 11, 2001, the day terrorists attacked American soil killing 2,996 people “exposed how open our society was,” Dempsey said, “especially to those who were willing to die for their cause.”
An examination of events leading up to that fateful day exposed how the lack of information sharing between agencies made the U.S. “more vulnerable.” Analyses and studies, commissions and reviews all led to an eventual change in the way American intelligence-gathering agencies operated.
“Since 9-11, the public is more aware of our intelligence activities, such as those in Afghanistan, with bin Laden and drone strikes. There are more movies, books and public debates about these activities,” she continued.
Today with a director of national intelligence and the establishment of agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, sharing of information across agencies is increasing. “We’ve moved from a need-to-know basis to a need-to-share basis. We must work together in new ways.
“The debate continues on what the role of intelligence gathering is in domestic activities, but I think leaders and the public recognize the need for a robust intelligence operation,” Dempsey said. “We (just) need to balance security with protection of our civil liberties as well.”
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.