The core mission of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is to lead the US Intelligence Community (IC). As the IC’s university, the National Intelligence University (NIU) is uniquely positioned to collaborate with ODNI and external partners to expand engagement, thought leadership, intelligence research, and inquiry. Diverse viewpoints are ever more crucial in today’s intelligence environment where intelligence professionals need to navigate and excel in a powerfully complex global landscape.
Every four years, ODNI is required to publish a new National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) that considers and provides the IC’s future course and intelligence support to policymakers. Historically, the NIS has been written by IC subject matter experts in a classified environment. For the first time, ODNI and NIU are inviting academics and national security thought leaders to contribute to the IC’s understanding of the current threat landscape and future intelligence challenges.
NIU and ODNI are hosting a series of events throughout 2025 called Foundations for the Future: A Strategy for the IC. This series will culminate in a one-day event. This initiative will be made up of a series of hybrid events and forums (e.g., virtual, in person, video, podcast) for academics, thought leaders, and national security professionals to discuss grand strategy, enterprise strategies, and their applications to the IC. Proceedings from these events will inform the next NIS.
Multidisciplinary scholars and thought leaders are invited to submit a paper relating to one or more of the following featured themes:
· Shaping strategy for shifting national security challenges in an increasingly complex environment.
· Anticipating how the future security environment could impact the IC’s strategic capabilities.
· Collaborating across industry to identify critical and emerging technologies and their potential impact on the IC’s strategic outlook.
· Establishing effective goals to shape the future of intelligence.