Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence

The Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (OICI; also abbreviated IN, DOE-IN, DOE/IN, I&CI, or OIC) is an office of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) responsible for all intelligence and counterintelligence activities throughout the DOE complex. It was established in 2006 by the merger of pre-existing Energy Department intelligence and security organizations. Due to its central role, OICI is designated DOE's Headquarters Intelligence. As a component of the United States Intelligence Community in addition to the Department of Energy, OICI reports to both the Director of National Intelligence and Secretary of Energy.

The Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence provides information to the Secretary of Energy and other senior federal policymakers. A member of the United States Intelligence Community, it contributes unique scientific and technical analysis capabilities with a specialty in energy security. The office protects information and technology vital to both the U.S. economy and national security, leveraging its specific expertise in nuclear weapons, proliferation, energy, and waste.

OICI is responsible for all intelligence and counterintelligence functions of the Department of Energy complex, including the national laboratories and nuclear weapons construction, decommissioning, assembling, storage, etc. facilities not under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Defense (the DoE and DoD share responsibility for the United States' nuclear stockpile). In its counterintelligence role, the office safeguards intellectual property in the form of national security information and technologies and protects Department of Energy employees and scientific staff. In its intelligence role, the office utilizes the Department of Energy's scientific and technical expertise to provide guidance to policymakers concerning, in addition to energy security, the national security areas of defense, homeland security, cybersecurity, and intelligence.

OICI's intelligence analysis focuses on Department-relevant fields, such as foreign nuclear weapons and fuel cycle programs, nuclear material security and nuclear terrorism, counterintelligence issues, energy security, cyber intelligence, and strategic science and technology. OICI's counterintelligence focuses on fostering threat awareness within the DOE complex (the Department itself plus the national laboratories and DOE contractors), analyzing threats to better protect DOE assets from foreign intelligence and terrorism, evaluating insiders and foreign visitors for espionage risks, and investigating cyber threats, terrorism, and espionage.

OICI's cyberspace expertise, including basic research, cyber threat analysis, information technology, supercomputing, and cybersecurity, is extended to the nuclear weapons enterprise and electrical grid providers for defense against cyberattacks and supply chain attacks.

OICI is a component of both the Energy Department and Intelligence Community.

The director of OICI (D/OICI) is selected by the Energy Secretary with the concurrence of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The Secretary and DNI similarly consult on the director's removal, though statute specifies the President may ignore such consultations at will.

Under U.S. law, the director must be substantially experienced in intelligence affairs and come from the Senior Executive Service or its intelligence agency equivalents, some of which require the concurrence of the DNI.