National Intelligence Council

The National Intelligence Council (NIC) is the center for midterm and long-term strategic thinking within the United States Intelligence Community (IC). It was formed in 1979. According to its official website:


 * It leads the IC's effort to produce National Intelligence Estimates and other documents;
 * It supports (and reports to) the Director of National Intelligence;
 * It serves as a focal point for policymakers' questions;
 * It contributes to the effort to allocate IC resources in response to policy changes; and
 * It communicates with experts in academia and the private sector to broaden the IC's perspective;

The NIC's goal is to provide policymakers with the best information: unvarnished, unbiased and without regard to whether the analytic judgments conform to current U.S. policy.

One of the NICs most important analytical projects is a Global Trends report produced for the incoming US president. The report is delivered to the incoming president between Election Day and Inauguration Day, and it assesses critical drivers and scenarios for global trends with an approximate time horizon of fifteen years. The Global Trends analysis provides a basis for long-range strategic policy assessment for the White House and the intelligence community. The NIC's most recent Global Trends report, "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World" was released in November, 2008. . The next report should be finalised end of 2012.

On February 2, 2007, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the National Intelligence Council released the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)—"'Prospects for Iraq's Stability: A Challenging Road Ahead' Unclassified Key Judgments".

Organization
The NIC has a Chairman and Vice Chairman, as well as a Vice Chairman for Evaluation, a Director of Strategic Plans and Outreach, a Director of Analysis and Production Staff, a Special Adviser, and National Intelligence Officers (NIOs) and Deputy National Intelligence Officer for each of the following areas and subject matters:


 * Africa
 * East Asia
 * Europe
 * Latin America
 * Near East
 * South Asia
 * Russia and Eurasia
 * Economics & Global Issues
 * Science & Technology
 * Intelligence Assurance
 * Military Issues
 * Transnational Threats
 * Warning
 * Weapons of Mass Destruction and Proliferation