§137. Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security

(a) There is an Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, appointed from civilian life by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. A person may not be appointed as Under Secretary within seven years after relief from active duty as a commissioned officer of a regular component of an armed force.

(b) Subject to the authority, direction, and control of the Secretary of Defense, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security shall-

(1) have responsibility for the overall direction and supervision for policy, program planning and execution, and use of resources, for the activities of the Department of Defense that are part of the Military Intelligence Program;

(2) execute the functions for the National Intelligence Program of the Department of Defense under section 105 of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3038), as delegated by the Secretary of Defense;

(3) have responsibility for the overall direction and supervision for policy, program planning and execution, and use of resources, for personnel security, physical security, industrial security, and the protection of classified information and controlled unclassified information, related activities of the Department of Defense; and

(4) perform such duties and exercise such powers as the Secretary of Defense may prescribe in the area of intelligence.

(c) The protection of privacy and civil liberties in accordance with Federal law and the regulations and directives of the Department of Defense shall be a top priority for the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

(d) The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security takes precedence in the Department of Defense after the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

(Added Pub. L. 107–314, div. A, title IX, §901(a)(2), Dec. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 2619 ; amended Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title IX, §904(3), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1512 ; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title XVI, §1621, Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 2117 ; Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title XVI, §1621(d), (e)(1)(A)(ii), (C), Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 1732 , 1733; Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title IX, §901(f)(3), Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 1868 .)

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 137 was renumbered section 138b of this title.

Another prior section 137 was renumbered section 135 of this title.

Another prior section 137 was renumbered section 140 of this title.

Amendments

2021-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 117–81 substituted "an armed force" for "the armed forces".

2019-Pub. L. 116–92, §1621(e)(1)(C), substituted "Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security" for "Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence" in section catchline.

Subsecs. (a), (b). Pub. L. 116–92, §1621(e)(1)(A)(ii), substituted "Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security" for "Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence".

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 116–92, §1621(d)(2), added subsec. (c). Former subsec. (c) redesignated (d).

Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 116–92, §1621(e)(1)(A)(ii), substituted "Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security" for "Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence".

Pub. L. 116–92, §1621(d)(1), redesignated subsec. (c) as (d).

2018-Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115–232 amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (b) read as follows: "Subject to the authority, direction, and control of the Secretary of Defense, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence shall perform such duties and exercise such powers as the Secretary of Defense may prescribe in the area of intelligence."

2017-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–91 inserted at end "A person may not be appointed as Under Secretary within seven years after relief from active duty as a commissioned officer of a regular component of the armed forces."

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title XVI, §1621(a)–(c), Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 1732 , provided that:

"(a) Redesignation of Under Secretary.-

"(1) In general.-The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence is hereby redesignated as the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

"(2) Service of incumbent in position.-The individual serving as Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence as of the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 20, 2019] may serve as Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security commencing as of that date without further appointment under section 137 of title 10, United States Code (as amended by subsection (c)(1)(A)(ii) [probably should be (e)(1)(A)(ii)]).

"(3) Reference.-Any reference in any law, regulation, map, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence shall be deemed to be a reference to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

"(b) Redesignation of Related Deputy Under Secretary.-

"(1) In general.-The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence is hereby redesignated as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

"(2) Service of incumbent in position.-The individual serving as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence as of the date of the enactment of this Act may serve as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security commencing as of that date without further appointment under section 137a of title 10, United States Code (as amended by subsection (c)(1)(B) [probably should be (e)(1)(B)]).

"(3) Reference.-Any reference in any law, regulation, map, document, paper, or other record of the United States to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence shall be deemed to be a reference to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

"(c) Rule of Construction Regarding Effects of Redesignation.-Nothing in this section shall be construed to modify or expand the authorities, resources, responsibilities, roles, or missions of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, as redesignated by this section."

Plan for Incorporation of Enterprise Query and Correlation Capability Into the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise

Pub. L. 112–81, div. A, title IX, §925, Dec. 31, 2011, 125 Stat. 1540 , provided that:

"(a) Plan Required.-

"(1) In general.-The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence shall develop a plan for the incorporation of an enterprise query and correlation capability into the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise (DI2E).

"(2) Elements.-The plan required by paragraph (1) shall-

"(A) include an assessment of all the current and planned advanced query and correlation systems which operate on large centralized databases that are deployed or to be deployed in elements of the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise; and

"(B) determine where duplication can be eliminated, how use of these systems can be expanded, whether these systems can be operated collaboratively, and whether they can and should be integrated with the enterprise-wide query and correlation capability required pursuant to paragraph (1).

"(b) Pilot Program.-

"(1) In general.-The Under Secretary shall conduct a pilot program to demonstrate an enterprisewide query and correlation capability through the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise program.

"(2) Purpose.-The purpose of the pilot program shall be to demonstrate the capability of an enterprisewide query and correlation system to achieve the following:

"(A) To conduct complex, simultaneous queries by a large number of users and analysts across numerous, large distributed data stores with response times measured in seconds.

"(B) To be scaled up to operate effectively on all the data holdings of the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise.

"(C) To operate across multiple levels of security with data guards.

"(D) To operate effectively on both unstructured data and structured data.

"(E) To extract entities, resolve them, and (as appropriate) mask them to protect sources and methods, privacy, or both.

"(F) To control access to data by means of on-line electronic user credentials, profiles, and authentication.

"(3) Termination.-The pilot program conducted under this subsection shall terminate on September 30, 2014.

"(c) Report.-Not later than November 1, 2012, the Under Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the actions undertaken by the Under Secretary to carry out this section. The report shall set forth the plan developed under subsection (a) and a description and assessment of the pilot program conducted under subsection (b).

"(d) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.-In this section, the term 'appropriate committees of Congress' means-

"(1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and

"(2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives."

Relationship to Authorities Under National Security Act of 1947

Pub. L. 107–314, div. A, title IX, §901(d), Dec. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 2620 , as amended by Pub. L. 113–291, div. A, title X, §1071(d)(2), Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3509 , provided that: "Nothing in section 137 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall supersede or modify the authorities of the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence as established by the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.)."

[Reference to the Director of Central Intelligence or the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Director's capacity as the head of the intelligence community deemed to be a reference to the Director of National Intelligence. Reference to the Director of Central Intelligence or the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Director's capacity as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency deemed to be a reference to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. See section 1081(a), (b) of Pub. L. 108–458, set out as a note under section 3001 of Title 50, War and National Defense.]