James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, reported earlier this month that the Obama deficit-reduction plan “calls for cuts in the double-digit range–with a B–over 10 years.” Congressman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, responded today during the 11th Annual C4ISR Journal Conference outside Washington. While arguing that congress must find efficiencies that will cut costs, “I will not allow a cut in mission capability,” he told the audience. “We have to save money. We have to get efficient. But I’m not going to nick the bone.” He went on: “I am not saying do more with less. I’m saying we…need to do business differently to remain competitive.”
One place he is going to look: the back end of intelligence. We have great technological assets that gather an enormous amount of information. It’s identifying that information–the snowflake in the blizzard–that has been a problem and where we need to do more work.