In light of these developments, American naval officers and military strategists advocated for a larger and more technologically advanced navy that could protect the U.S.'s vast maritime borders, safeguard its commercial interests, and project power abroad.
292, which read: An "Office of Intelligence" is hereby established in the Bureau of Navigation for the purpose of collecting and recording such naval information as may be useful to the Department in time of war, as well as in peace.
These findings would be analyzed, interpreted, and disseminated to Navy leaders and government officials, helping to inform policies and programs related to naval development.
Naval operations were critical in the conflict, and ONI was responsible for protecting Navy personnel, providing tactical support, and implementing counter-intelligence measures.
The sailing of the "Great White Fleet" around the world between 1906 and 1907, which included sixteen newly constructed steel battleships, showcased new-found American seapower and validated ONI's efforts.
[9] Under his administration, Congress authorized ONI's first major increase in personnel and funding, and expanded its role to include domestic security operations — namely the protection of U.S. ports, harbors, and maritime facilities from enemy infiltration and sabotage.
Due to the increasingly sensitive nature of its work, ONI also began to censor radio and mail communications, which further marked its development as a major intelligence office.
He found little evidence of Japanese American saboteurs, and in his final report to President Roosevelt, advised against mass incarceration, a view that was shared by most ONI officials, but that was largely ignored by the Army and War Department.
Its Special Activities Branch offered critical intelligence on German U-boat technology, operations, and tactics, which proved decisive in the Battle of the Atlantic.
ONI supplied U.S. forces with ship and aircraft recognition manuals, provided photographic specialists for identifying enemy vessels, assisted in naval mission planning, and was responsible for the translation, evaluation, and dissemination of intercepted Japanese communications.
[13] In 1946, the Operational Intelligence Section was formed to provide fleet commanders with real-time analysis of the maritime activities and positions of foreign naval forces, namely the Soviet Navy.
Beginning in 1988, and following the end of the Cold War, ONI's headquarters was moved to its current location in the National Maritime Intelligence Center (NMIC) in Suitland, Maryland.
Since the start of the Global War on Terror in 2001—and the subsequently large role played by the U.S. Navy in related conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa—ONI has experienced further expansion of its duties and functions.
The same year, the Information Dominance Corps (IDC) was established by the Navy to train enlisted sailors and officers in a wide range of supporting intelligence capabilities.
The IDC was redesignated in 2016 as the Information Warfare Community (IWC), with a greater emphasis on inter-disciplinary expertise in sustaining the U.S. Navy's operational and technological superiority.
[15] According to its official website, ONI's organizational structure is specifically designed to "strengthen the Navy's conventional and irregular war fighting capacities, and to expand our foresight into new technologies, future platforms, weapons, sensors, C4ISR and cyber capabilities".
Since 2009, the facility has been designed to facilitate 24-hour-a-day coordination, collaboration, and analysis of maritime intelligence among ONI's subcommands, as well as its counterparts in the Marine Corps and Coast Guard.