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U.S. persons and people located in the United States under the Section 702 program. The
NSA seeks to work with Board staff to develop such measures, either through further
refinement of the measures described in the Board’s recommendation or through
development of alternative approaches.

Recommendation 10: Develop a Methodology to Assess the Value of
Counterterrorism Programs

Status:

Being implemented

Text of the Board’s Recommendation:

The government should develop a comprehensive methodology for assessing the efficacy
and relative value of counterterrorism programs.
Explanation for the Recommendation:

Determining the efficacy and value of particular counterterrorism programs is critical.
Without such determinations, policymakers and courts cannot effectively weigh the
interests of the government in conducting a program against the intrusions on privacy and
civil liberties that it may cause. Accordingly, the Board believes that the government should
develop a methodology to gauge and assign value to its counterterrorism programs, and
use that methodology to determine if particular programs are meeting their stated goals.
The Board is aware that the ODNI conducts studies to measure the relative efficacy of
different types of intelligence activities to assist in budgetary decisions. The Board believes
that this important work should be continued, as well as expanded so as to differentiate
more precisely among individual programs, in order to assist policymakers in making
informed, data-driven decisions about governmental activities that have the potential to
invade the privacy and civil liberties of the public.

Discussion of Status:

The ODNI has advised the Board that it has been working to develop a comprehensive
methodology for assessing efficacy, including a range of quantitative and qualitative
metrics. The ODNI also advises that it will soon provide the Board with a report outlining
this methodology. The Board looks forward to reviewing the report and working with the
ODNI on this critical initiative.

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