NFIB (United States National Foreign Intelligence Board)

The National Foreign Intelligence Board (NFIB) was created by the National Security Act of 1947. The NFIB acts as a communications channel among various national intelligence agencies and facilitates interagency exchange of information. The board also develops policy regarding the protection of intelligence information. In addition to coordinating domestic matters, the board also handles relationships with foreign intelligence agencies that share information with the United States and allocates that information to the appropriate U.S. agencies.

The NFIB is chaired by the Director or Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. In permanent membership, all agencies within the United States intelligence and federal law enforcement community are represented on the committee, as well as the Departments of Energy and Treasury. Other agencies are occasionally represented on the board. Representatives from the Department of the Interior and the Department of Health and Human Services sometimes join the board to discuss counter-terrorism measures, but are not permanent sitting members of the NFIB. The major subsidiary committee of the NFIB is the National Intelligence Council, which coordinates intelligence studies and analyses of various issues, threats, or locations.

While the board was created to address the transfer of information regarding military and political national security threats, the NFIB has become increasingly interested in the role of the intelligence community in the preservation and regulation of international economic interests. The Department of Treasury was added to the NFIB in 1972 to foster links between monetary policy makers, banks, international funds and economic cooperatives and intelligence agencies.

Upon full implementation of the Department of Homeland Security, the NFIB will be restructured to include, be governed by, or be replaced by the new agency. Since the new Homeland Security Department is will perform many of the same functions as the older interagency committee, the future structure and role of the NFIB has yet to be fully determined.