A primary mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, Department) is to "prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism, and minimize the damage, and assist in the recovery from terrorist attacks that do occur in the United States. The current organization of the Department is displayed at Figure 1 . To support this mission, DHS has had an intelligence component since its inception in 2003. The Homeland Security Act of 2002, assigned the original DHS intelligence component—the Directorate of Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection—with responsibility to receive, analyze, and integrate law enforcement and intelligence information in order to— "(A) identify and assess the nature and scope of terrorist threats to the homeland; (B) detect and identify threats of terrorism against the United States; and (C) understand such threats in light of actual and potential vulnerabilities of the homeland." Congress also made information sharing a top priority of the new DHS intelligence organization, requiring it "to disseminate, as appropriate, information analyzed by the Department within the Department, to other agencies of the Federal government with responsibilities related to homeland security, and to agencies of State and local government and private sector entities, with such responsibilities in order to assist in the deterrence, prevention, preemption of, or response to, terrorist attacks against the United States." Following the release of the 9/11 Commission Report in 2004, which identified a breakdown in information sharing as a key factor contributing to the failure to prevent the September 11, 2001 attacks, Congress underscored the importance it attached to information sharing at all levels of government. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 required the President to "create an information sharing environment for the sharing of terrorism information in a manner consistent with national security and with applicable legal standards relating to privacy and civil liberties," and "to designate an individual as the program manager responsible for information sharing across the Federal Government." In July 2005, following "a systematic evaluation of the Department's operations, policies and structures" (commonly called the Second Stage Review or "2SR"), former Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, initiated a major reorganization of DHS. In his remarks describing the reorganization, he noted that "…intelligence lies at the heart of everything that we do." In an effort to improve how DHS manages its intelligence and information sharing responsibilities, he established a strengthened Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) and made the Assistant Secretary for Information Analysis (now Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis) the Chief Intelligence Officer (CINT) for the Department. He also tasked I&A with ensuring that intelligence is coordinated, fused, and analyzed within the Department to provide a common operational picture; provide a primary connection between DHS and the Intelligence Community (IC) as a whole; and to act as a primary source of information for state, local and private sector partners. In testimony to a House of Representatives hearing shortly after his selection, the first DHS CINT, stated that "[m]y goal and my role as chief intelligence officer is to see that Homeland Security intelligence, a blend of traditional and nontraditional intelligence that produces unique and actionable insights, takes its place along the other kinds of intelligence as an indispensable tool for securing the nation. He also set five priorities: Improving the quality of intelligence analysis across the department; integrating the DHS IE; strengthening support to state, local, and tribal authorities and the private sector; ensuring that DHS IE takes its place in the IC; and solidifying the relationship with the Congress; and improving transparency and responsiveness. Since the 2SR reorganization, Congress imposed additional requirements on DHS through the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007: Integrate information and standardize the format of intelligence products produced within DHS and its components. Establish department-wide procedures for review and analysis of information provided by state, local, tribal, and private sector elements; integrate that information into DHS intelligence products, and disseminate to Federal partners within the Intelligence Community. Evaluate how DHS components are utilizing homeland security information and participating in the Information Sharing Environment. Establish a comprehensive information technology network architecture to connect various DHS elements and promote information sharing. Establish a DHS State, Local, and Regional Fusion Center Initiative to establish partnerships with state, local, and regional fusion centers. Coordinate and oversee the creation of an Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group that will bring state, local, and tribal law enforcement and intelligence analysts "to work in the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) with Federal intelligence analysts for the purpose of integrating, analyzing and assisting in the dissemination of federally-coordinated information…." The DHS IE consists of those elements within DHS that have an intelligence mission. These include I&A, the Homeland Infrastructure Threat and Risk Analysis Center, and the Intelligence Division of the Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (all located at the DHS headquarters), and the intelligence elements of six operational components: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and U.S. Secret Service (USSS). The Department and USCG are statutory members of the IC. On February 11, 2010, the Senate confirmed President Obama's selection of Caryn Wagner to serve as Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis. As she assumes responsibility for the DHS IE, Congress will likely be interested in the progress of integration of the Department's intelligence components and the quality and relevance of the intelligence DHS IE produces for front line law enforcement and security officials who are responsible for protecting America and its people. Also in February, DHS published its first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR), a comprehensive assessment outlining its long-term strategy and priorities for homeland security and guidance on the Department's programs, assets, capabilities, budget, policies, and authorities. The next step in the Department's QHSR process is to conduct a "bottom-up review" to systematically link strategy to program to budget. The results of that review will be particularly important as Congress considers an authorization bill for DHS. Some have argued that there is a broad homeland security intelligence enterprise that encompasses not only the DHS IE, but other organizations at the Federal, state, local, tribal, and private sector levels that collect and analyze homeland security information and disseminate intelligence products. This report will focus on the DHS IE both at headquarters and within the components; how it is organized; and how it supports key departmental activities to include homeland security analysis and threat warning, border security, critical infrastructure protection, and support to and the sharing of information with state, local, tribal, and private sector partners. It will also discuss oversight challenges and options for Congress to consider on these issues. According to its December 2009 Strategy , the mission of I&A is "To strengthen DHS and its partners' ability to perform homeland security functions by accessing, integrating, analyzing, and sharing timely and relevant intelligence and information, while protecting the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of the people I&A serves. It accomplishes this by ensuring that information related to homeland security threats is collected, analyzed, and disseminated to the full spectrum of homeland security customers in the Department, at state, local, and tribal levels, in the private sector, and in the IC." The Under Secretary for I&A is the Chief Intelligence Officer for the Department and is responsible to lead I&A and the entire DHS IE. The Under Secretary is also the Department's chief information sharing officer and is responsible for implementing the objectives of the PM-ISE within DHS. To accomplish its mission, I&A participates in all aspects of the intelligence cycle" – the process by which information is acquired, converted into finished intelligence, and made available to policymakers. Generally the cycle comprises five steps: planning and direction, collection, processing, analysis, and production and dissemination." It is an iterative process in which collection requirements based on national security threats are developed, and intelligence is collected, analyzed, and disseminated to a broad range of consumers. DHS does not generally engage in traditional foreign intelligence collection activities such as imagery intelligence, signals intelligence, human intelligence, measurement and signatures intelligence, and foreign open source intelligence. But, as former Secretary Chertoff has noted: Intelligence, as you know, is not only about spies and satellites. Intelligence is about the thousands and thousands of routine, everyday observations and activities. Surveillance, interactions—each of which may be taken in isolation as not a particularly meaningful piece of information, but when fused together, gives us a sense of the patterns and the flow that really is at the core of what intelligence analysis is all about.... I&A combines the unique information collected by DHS components as part of their operational activities (e.g., at airports, seaports, and the border) with foreign intelligence from the IC; law enforcement information from Federal, state, local, and tribal sources; private sector data about critical infrastructure and key resources; and information from domestic open sources to develop homeland security intelligence. This encompasses a broad range of homeland security threats. It includes border security information to counter human smuggling and trafficking, cargo data to prevent the introduction of dangerous items, information to protect critical infrastructure against all hazards, information about infectious diseases, and demographic data and other research about 'violent radicalization.' The DHS I&A Strategy identifies its core customers as the President; Secretary of Homeland Security; DHS Components; State, Local, Tribal, and Private Sector Partners (through State and Major Urban Area Fusion Centers); the IC; and Federal Interagency Partners. In short, I&A's customers range from the Chief Executive all the way to individual border patrol agents, Coast Guard seamen, and airport screeners. According to Under Secretary Wagner, "A primary role of I&A is to share intelligence and information with our partners at the state, local, tribal, and private sector levels.