DOD would curtail long-term intelligence work during government shutdown

The nation’s top spy offices are expected to pare down certain intelligence-gathering activities deemed non-essential in the event of a government shutdown that is anticipated at midnight Tuesday.

Under shutdown guidance provided by the Defense Department, intelligence work that directly supports active military operations, threat monitoring or other national security emergencies is designated “excepted” and would continue uninterrupted if funding lapses.

But agencies would be required to pause certain longer-term activities. Those include political and economic analysis work unrelated to current crises and intelligence support for weapons acquisition. 

Political and economic assessments can assist military planners’ understanding of how foreign governments and global financial conditions shape conflicts, while weapons acquisition intelligence helps the U.S. design, test and purchase systems that can survive against current or emerging threats.

In essence, tactical intelligence collection activities would remain active, though much of the strategic analysis that supports future planning of the DOD’s spying activities would be curtailed until federal funding is restored.

“Command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities” remain excepted functions, the document says. That also includes the use of spying capabilities tied to telecommunications infrastructure, which are often used by the National Security Agency to intercept phone calls and other communications as they cross the world’s internet backbone.

Offices like the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which relies on satellites and imagery analysis to track targets from space, can also continue their core intelligence missions. Other major DOD spying offices include the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office, the latter of which designs and launches the nation’s spy satellites.

The exemptions would also apply to a slew of other intelligence units housed inside military branches like the Army, Air Force and Navy. 

Other intelligence offices like the CIA are not housed directly in DOD but coordinate closely with the military on spying matters. Less public information is available on shutdown plans for the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the nation’s 18 spy agencies.