The Intelligence Bureau provides support to all enforcement Divisions of the Iowa Department of Public Safety as well as to all other local, state, and federal law enforcement and homeland security partners in Iowa. The Intelligence Bureau serves as the Central Coordinating Agency for the LEIN program and for the Statewide Intelligence Fusion Team.  It also serves as a point of contact in Iowa for law enforcement agencies from other states.

The type of support provided to consumers varies with the nature of the request. Requests may involve helping to positively identify particular individuals when given incomplete information, or it might be as complicated as taking thousands of information items and organizing them in such a way that they make sense. In essence, the personnel of the Intelligence Bureau research, manage, and analyze information. Our services, for example, help to free-up some of the investigator's time so he or she a can continue to focus on the case at hand while we do some of the time consuming analysis of information already gathered.

The Intelligence Bureau applies the intelligence cycle to accomplish the tasks that fall under the Bureau's responsibilities. The intelligence cycle, as it pertains to criminal intelligence, is the process of developing raw information into finished intelligence for consumers, including policymakers, homeland security officials, law enforcement executives, investigators, and patrol officers. These consumers then use this finished intelligence for decision making and action. Intelligence may be used, for example, to further an ongoing investigation, or to plan the allocation of resources.