COMMENTARY:
Last week yet another call was heard for the need for increased efforts to identify, collect, analyze and disseminate cyber intelligence. This latest call was the result of a recent report that warned the U.S. must develop cyber intelligence as a new and better coordinated government discipline.

How many times does this have to be recommended and justified before we just get it done and done right?

The last thing that we need is yet another stand-alone entity in our intelligence community.

The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) consists of 17 agencies and organizations within the executive branch, plus a number of highly classified and clandestine entities.

At first glance it appears the 17 collaborate and cooperate. Not really and that is the biggest challenge for James R. Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence.

It is evident this issue and the elevated threat weighs heavy on Director Clapper. Recently one of my close associates had a face to face meeting with Clapper and commented on the physical appearance of strain on his face. He is not the only one working to protect the nation that is experiencing an increased level of stress these days and for good reason.

The challenge of cyber intelligence is unprecedented! The fifth domain of conflict is highly decentralized with what seems like ever increasing connectivity from virtually every nation. The ubiquity of this infrastructure coupled with the rapidly expanding mobile environment, further add to the challenge.

The threat from acts of cyber aggression, where power projection can be wielded by virtually everyone from anywhere and with nearly totally anonymity, has resulted in unprecedented threats to critical infrastructures.

The last thing we need is to add another island of intelligence.

Kevin G. Coleman is a long-time security technology executive and former Chief Strategist at Netscape. He is Senior Fellow with the Technolytics Institute, where he provides consulting services on strategic technology and security issues.