Recommendations relevant to ONI
STRUCTURE/ARCHITECTURE
Recommendation 1: An Office of National Intelligence (ONI) be established as a statutory authority within the Prime Minister’s portfolio, and that:
a.
ONI be led by a Director-General (DG ONI) and this appointment be at departmental Secretary level;
b.
DG ONI be the head of the National Intelligence Community (NIC) as well as the Prime Minister’s principal adviser on intelligence community issues, with the role including advice on the appointment of senior NIC office-holders and succession planning;
c.
DG ONI be a member of the Secretaries Committee on National Security;
d.
without directing the specific activities of agencies, DG ONI be able to direct the co-ordination of the NIC to ensure there are appropriately integrated strategies across the suite of NIC capabilities;
e.
DG ONI chair an expanded National Intelligence Co-ordination Committee and that its membership include the Chief of the Defence Force or their representative;
f.
DG ONI chair a new Intelligence Integration Board;
g.
DG ONI’s roles and responsibilities be supported by a new legislative mandate which would include the provision of statutory independence for the position of DG ONI; and
h.
DG ONI be accountable to the Prime Minister and the National Security Committee of Cabinet for the performance of the NIC generally, and agencies in particular, in relation to National Intelligence Priorities and the provision of relevant input to Ministerial and Cabinet decision-making.
Recommendation 2: The Office of National Intelligence (ONI) encompass two main areas of responsibility led by Deputy Directors-General (at the Senior Executive Service Band 3 level) responsible for Intelligence Enterprise Management (including intelligence integration) and Assessments, and that:
a.
the Director-General ONI (DG ONI) be given the authority and responsibility for advising government on intelligence collection and assessment priorities, and allocating responsibility for intelligence collection across the intelligence agencies;
b.
DG ONI report to the Prime Minister and the National Security Committee of Cabinet on a regular basis to provide a holistic view of performance against priorities and to make recommendations on ways of closing intelligence gaps, making choices among relative priorities, and in consultation with the heads of relevant intelligence and policy agencies ensuring the appropriate mix of coverage;
c.
DG ONI have responsibility for new arrangements for agency evaluation that are appropriately rigorous across specific mandates, that are similar to the Functional and Efficiency Reviews currently led by the Department of Finance, that are conducted by senior ONI and Department of Finance staff supplemented as appropriate by competent experienced external reviewers, and that make practical assessments of progress in relation to prioritisation, effectiveness, resource allocation, capability development and co-ordination; and
d.
DG ONI provide the Prime Minister with a written personal overview every two weeks on key issues for the intelligence agencies, and that this overview be supplemented by meetings with the Prime Minister every two weeks.
Recommendation 3: Integration in areas of high intelligence focus be improved by:
a.
establishing a dedicated Office of National Intelligence (ONI) position to facilitate closer co-ordination, evaluation and integration across national counter-terrorism intelligence activities as a whole.
Recommendation 4: The Office of National Intelligence (ONI) be responsible for leading and co-ordinating data management and ICT connectivity initiatives across the National Intelligence Community, and that the Open Source Centre be integrated into ONI’s Intelligence Enterprise Management role and enhanced as a centre of expertise for open source collection, analysis, tradecraft and training.
Recommendation 5: Current Office of National Assessments analyst numbers be increased by at least 50 per cent to support the Office of National Intelligence’s (ONI) intelligence assessment role, and that:
a.
ONI be responsible for preparing a morning Daily Brief for the Prime Minister on intelligence issues of significance;
b.
an ONI Assessment Consultation Board be established, chaired by the Director-General ONI and consisting of senior leaders from ONI, other intelligence agencies and relevant policy departments as well as individuals from business, non-government organisations, universities and think-tanks who can add relevant perspectives to intelligence assessment matters; and
c.
ONI develop a more intensive and substantive program of interaction with experts outside of government to inform assessments.
CAPABILITY AND FUNDING
Recommendation 7: A Joint Capability Fund administered by the Office of National Intelligence be established to support the development of shared capabilities, with the total amount in the Fund being equivalent to the Efficiency Dividend levied on the intelligence agencies.
Recommendation 8: Changes be made to the application of the Efficiency Dividend to the intelligence agencies as follows:
b.
the Efficiency Dividend be applied to 100 per cent of the funding of the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) with effect two years after ONI’s establishment as a statutory authority.
Recommendation 9: An Intelligence Capability Investment Plan (ICIP) be established that identifies the major capability projects that agencies seek agreement to commence over the period of the Forward Estimates, and that the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence prepare the ICIP annually for consideration by the National Security Committee of Cabinet, noting that:
a.
The ICIP should also be presented in conjunction with a comprehensive overview of the National Intelligence Community’s (NIC) existing funding and commitments.
b.
The ICIP should include the projects which the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) has in Defence’s Integrated Investment Program (DIIP), and that the associated funding be transferred from the Defence budget to ASD after it transitions to a statutory authority. The current phases of ASD’s DIIP funding should continue to be administered by the Department of Defence, and over time, later phases of existing projects, as well as their replacements and future projects, should move into the ICIP.
c.
The ICIP, in its first iteration, be presented to government with options for overall funding envelopes based on NIC funding and indexed at 1.5 and 3 per cent real growth per year, with effect from 2018–19.
Recommendation 11: The Office of National Intelligence be responsible for developing and overseeing the implementation of a strategic approach to the development of the National Intelligence Community workforce as part of its intelligence enterprise management responsibilities.
Recommendation 14: The Office of National Intelligence lead a more structured approach to the National Intelligence Community’s responses to technological change, with a high priority given to:
a.
establishing a National Intelligence Community Science and Technology Advisory Board;
b.
creating a National Intelligence Community Innovation Fund to support the development of prototypes for transitioning research outcomes into operational systems; and
c.
supporting a National Intelligence Community Innovation Hub to facilitate ways in which government, industry and academia could come together to address capability needs and solutions and create new linkages.
OVERSIGHT
Recommendation 21: The oversight role of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security be expanded to apply to all ten agencies within the National Intelligence Community, with oversight of the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission limited to their intelligence functions, and with current oversight arrangements in relation to the Office of National Assessments applied to the Office of National Intelligence.
Recommendation 23: The role of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) be expanded by amending relevant legislation to include:
e.
a requirement for the PJCIS to be regularly briefed by the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence, and separately by the IGIS.