The National Intelligence Council (NIC) serves as the US Intelligence Community’s center for the long-term strategic analysis. Since 1979, the NIC has served a bridge between the intelligence and policy communities—as well as a facilitator for outreach to outside experts. The NIC’s National Intelligence Officers, drawn from government, academia, and the private sector, are the IC’s senior substantive experts on a range of issues and work under the auspices of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The NIC covers the regions of the world as well as functional topics, such as economics, security, technology, cyber, terrorism, and the environment. The NIC coordinates Intelligence Community support for US policy deliberations while producing papers and formal National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) on critical national security questions.
