page_title: Bureau of Intelligence and Research
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bureau of Intelligence and Research / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo by Thomas L. Hughes. Released for use by author 2004.
context_page_description: The Bureau of Intelligence and Research is an intelligence agency in the United States Department of State whose primary mission is to provide all-source intelligence and analysis for U.S. diplomats. It is the oldest civilian intelligence agency in the U.S. Intelligence Community, as well as one of the smallest, with roughly 300 personnel.
  The INR originated from the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services, which was established during World War II to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Axis powers. The R&A Branch proved pivotal to the war effort, and was so well regarded that, upon the dissolution of the OSS in 1945, it was one of the few components retained and transferred to the State Department.
  In addition to supporting the policies and initiatives of the State Department, the INR contributes to the President's Daily Briefings, ensures U.S. intelligence operations meet the nation's foreign policy interests, and serves as the federal government's primary source of foreign public opinion research and analysis. It reviews and publishes close to two million reports and produces about 3,500 intelligence assessments annually.
context_section_description: In July 2004, the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued a scathing report on prewar intelligence on Iraq. INR was spared the poor performance review that most other intelligence agencies received, and the panel specifically endorsed the dissent that INR inserted into the National Intelligence Estimate of 2002. The bureau is being studied as a positive example, as Congress debates how to best reform U.S. intelligence agencies in the wake of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
  In May 2004, the National Security Archive released a highly classified review of INR's written analysis of the Vietnam War during the 1960s commissioned in 1969 by Thomas L. Hughes, then Director of INR. The review showed that INR had repeatedly warned of the weaknesses of the South Vietnamese Government and of the failing US strategy in Vietnam, and that, despite pressure from the military and Pentagon, INR had portrayed and projected the course of the war more accurately than any other source.
  In June 2009, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested former INR employee Walter Kendall Myers on charges of serving as an illegal agent of the Cuban government for nearly 30 years and conspiring to provide classified U.S. information to the Cuban government. Myers’ arrest was the culmination of a three-year joint FBI/Department of State Diplomatic Security investigation.  Myers worked in the INR from 2000 until October 2007.
  On October 23, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Philip S. Goldberg to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research; his nomination was confirmed by the Senate on February 9, 2010.
caption: The United States Intelligence Board in 1965. Seated second from right is Thomas L. Hughes, then INR Director.
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