Should the U.S. Create a Dedicated Domestic Intelligence Agency?
The issue of whether to create a dedicated domestic intelligence agency is central to the debate of how to deal with the threat of terrorism. Two RAND Corporation reports address this issue. The first examines what five other democracies—Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—have done and identifies a number of potential lessons for the United States; these include separating the agency that conducts domestic intelligence gathering from any arrest and detention powers and the importance of external oversight over domestic intelligence activities and of liaisons with other international, foreign, state, and local agencies to help ensure the best sharing of information. The second looks at the United States from a series of different perspectives to assess the options and potential effects of creating such an agency. In an area in which information to support direct assessment and analysis is limited, there is a need to carefully consider the implications and potenti
