Intelligence and National Security Alliance

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The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) is a "non-profit professional association created to improve our nation's security through an alliance of intelligence and national security leaders in the private and public sectors," its website states. "INSA provides the leadership needed to solicit collaborative solutions that draw on the experience of public and private sector experts."[1]

INSA, "a nonprofit professional association for members of the intelligence community -- including private contractors, academics and members of U.S. spy agencies -- is largely unknown," Alec Klein wrote April 2, 2007, in the Washington Post.[2]

"That's quite a feat," Klein wrote,[2] "because its chairman, retired Navy Vice Adm. John M. McConnell, the former head of the National Security Agency, left recently to be sworn in as director of national intelligence, the president's top intelligence adviser."

INSA "is working to introduce a growing network of private contractors, large and small, to government intelligence agencies. Like much of the rest of the government, U.S. intelligence agencies are increasingly outsourcing what they need in the name of expediency: cutting-edge technology, goods and services, such as gee-whiz satellites, particularly to protect against another terrorist attack," Klein wrote.[2]

Jeremy Scahill, who has documented a number of private military corporations, wrote August 15, 2007, in The Indypendent.[3] that INSA is "the private intelligence industry's lobbying arm".

However, INSA's media contact Jason Kello responded to Scahill, writing in the article's comments section that[3]

"The reporter mischaracterizes the organization of which Director McConnell served as chairman–the Intelligence and National Security Alliance–which by its charter and by law does not lobby. Instead, it includes current government officials, professors, academics and private sector intelligence practitioners in a public policy forum. INSA funds a teaching position at Georgetown University to teach intelligence policy and partners with the University of Maryland. INSA also had a strong relationship with the former DNI Negraponte who asked INSA to host some conferences in partnership with the ODNI. This topic is important enough to deserve more accurate reporting."

INSA Professor in the Practice of Intelligence

In October 2006, Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies (CPASS) and INSA announced "the establishment of the INSA Professor in the Practice of Intelligence for the 2006-2007 academic year", with Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper, Jr.,[4] formerly director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, to "hold the one-year position and teach three courses exposing Georgetown students to the complex concerns of intelligence professionals."[5]

Founding members

According to the INSA website, the following are cited as founding members.

Key personnel

Board members

INSA lists the following are members of the board of directors.[6]

Contact information

Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA)
Ballston Metro Center Office Towers
901 North Stuart Street, Suite 205
Arlington, VA 22203
Phone: 703 224-INSA (224-4672)
FAX: 703 224-4681
URL: http://www.insaonline.org

Resources and articles

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ About-INSA, INSA Online, accessed August 14, 2007.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Alec Klein, "Trade Group Does Who Knows What. Secretive INSA Includes Intelligence Contractors, Academics, Spies," Washington Post, April 2, 2007.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jeremy Scahill, "The Mercenary Revolution: Flush with Profits from the Iraq War, Military Contractors See a World of Business Opportunities," The Indypendent, August 15, 2007. See comments section by Chris Anderson for possible identity/info on Jason Kello.
  4. ↑ See SourceWatch article regarding Clapper and the alleged termination of the TALON reports program.
  5. ↑ "Professor in Practice of Intelligence Established," Georgetown University, October 31, 2006.
  6. ↑ Board, INSA Online, accessed August 14, 2007.
  7. ↑ Profile: James F. Sloan, Assistant Commandant for Intelligence and Criminal Investigations, US Coast Guard.

External articles

External resources

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