Requirements and Challenges Facing the NATO Intelligence Fusion Center

Since September 11, 2001, both the United States (US) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have undergone transformation to improve intelligence collection, analysis, production and dissemination in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act passed by Congress in 2004 provided guidance to the US Intelligence Community on the establishment of an integrated intelligence network.1 Similarly, NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT) determined that NATO's intelligence architecture must transform to meet future operational intelligence needs and proposed establishment of the NATO Intelligence Fusion Center (IFC). Officially opened by NATO on October 16, 2006, the IFC's ultimate goal is to provide a mechanism by which NATO's 26 member states can collaboratively develop and share information and intelligence in support of the common goal of winning the GWOT and promoting global peace and stability. NATO intends for the IFC "to provide the full spectrum of military production and analysis at the operational level." 2 Support to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan will be the IFC's first major test.