The United States has unveiled a new intelligence strategy, which establishes the promotion of democracy as a top priority along with counterterrorism and the prevention of the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

The new strategy was outlined in a document titled "The National Intelligence Strategy of the United States," which was made public on Wednesday, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The publication set out for the first time the strategic missions laid out by John D. Negroponte, director of national intelligence, for the country's 15 spy agencies.

The strategy listed the battle against terrorism as its top mission objective, followed by the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the promotion of democracy and sustaining "peaceful democratic states.

The strategic mission to "bolster the growth of democracy and sustain peaceful democratic states" was aimed at providing policymakers with information to alert them as to how countries are progressing toward democracy, allowing them to understand the "success or failure to achieve good governance," Negroponte was quoted as saying.

The democracy mission statement did not describe covert missions conducted by the the Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War in many countries, including some in Eastern Europe, but only outlined collection and analysis of so called soft power intelligence in contrast to the threat-based intelligence, a senior intelligence official was quoted as saying.

The 20-page document, which also for the first time incorporated the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and state and local authorities into intelligence strategy, laid out 10 goals, termed as "enterprise objectives" for the espionage community. The objectives included many measures recommended by the Sept. 11 commission and the president's intelligence commission such as sharing of intelligence between agencies and creation of uniform security practices.

The public release of the intelligence strategy "shows Congress and the public our commitment to building an intelligence community that is more unified, coordinated and effective," said Negroponte, who took over as the president's chief intelligence adviser six months ago.

Source: Xinhua