The United States has much to gain and lilttle to lose in sharing much more intelligence with our allies, said the Pentagon's head of intelligence.
"There is very little risk in being more open with sharing," Jim Clapper, undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, told a room full of roughly 1,200 intelligence practitioners and contractors at the annual Geoint conference.
The U.S. intelligence community is "now risk averse… What we need to evolve to is a risk management mode," Clapper said, noting that the US has operational reasons to share intelligence right now. Afghanistan, he said, is "very much an international fight."
On top of that, the U.S. stands to gain much from such sharing. "By the way, this is a two-way street since they bring a lot to the table," he said.
Asked about such sharing, Clapper said that talks are underway with at least one ally.
"That's a very intriguing idea and I have had discussions with one of our commonwealth allies," he told the gathering, adding that "great advantages could accrue in partnership with our allies."
[Full disclosure: USGIF, who put on the Geoint conference, paid our airfare and hotel so we could cover this event.]
