The CIA as MI6?

Leiter, Felix Leiter. David Ignatius makes a sweeping proposal to reform US intelligence. I don't think another major change to the US intelligence structure is realistically possible for some time; in any case, a neophyte president Obama will not have the stomach for trying to achieve it even if he thinks it a good idea.

What should President-elect Barack Obama do about the intelligence community? He has appointed the other top members of his national security team, but intrigue still surrounds his choices for director of national intelligence and director of the CIA. Prospective nominees are caught in a rumor mill that's worthy of Beirut.

...the intelligence community is still reeling from a messy reorganization in 2006. That ill-considered "reform" created a big new DNI bureaucracy while leaving everything else intact. The result was like a lumpy pudding. The CIA has gotten the brunt of the DNI's often duplicative supervision, partly because the other big intelligence agencies (the FBI, the NSA, etc.) are all protected by Cabinet officers.

...it would make sense to move analysis into the DNI's shop -- and let a leaner, more aggressive CIA focus on spying. "We should be thinking about CIA the way the British think about MI6 [which does not do national-level analysis; that's done by the (quite small) Assessments Staff of the Joint Intelligence Committee, located in the Cabinet Office - MC], with a career intelligence professional at the head who has a fixed term that transcends elections," the former top official argues...

Mark C.

Posted by markc at December 11, 2008 05:50 PM