Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance. Overarching Guidance Is Needed to Advance Information Sharing

The military services and defense agencies face three long-standing challenges with processing, exploiting, and disseminating ISR data. First, since 2002, DOD has rapidly increased its ability to collect ISR data in Iraq and Afghanistan; however, its capacity for processing, exploiting, and dissemination is limited and has not kept pace with the increase in collection platforms and combat air patrols. For example, the Air Force has substantially increased the number of combat air patrols that ISR collection platforms are performing in the U.S. Central Command theater of operations. Specifically, the number of combat air patrols flown by the Air Force's Predator and Reaper unmanned aircraft systems has increased from 13 to 36 since 2007. Moreover, in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review Report,10 DOD stated that it will continue to expand the Predator and Reaper combat air patrols to 65 by fiscal year 2015. This increase in data collection will also increase the burden on the Air Force's ground processing system, which processes, exploits, and disseminates the ISR information collected by these platforms.