The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was established through Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. It is an independent agency that assists the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), who is a US government official subject to the US president’s authority, control and direction. The DNI serves as the chief adviser of the president, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council for matters related to national security. The DNI also serves as the head of United States Intelligence Community (IC) and oversees as well as direct the National Intelligence Program. The 9/11 commission, which was responsible for setting up the DNI, proposed that DNI would coordinate and control the array of departments and agencies that formed the US intelligence community.
The reaction to the inception of DNI has been mixed, and rightly so. While some argue that the DNI will help in centralising the US intelligence community, others argue that the DNI will weaken the IC management and will increase bureaucracy and risk disruption despite terrorist threats. According to Admiral Bobby Inman, Former Deputy DCI and National Security Agency (NSA) director, “A DNI would be like the Drug Czar.” What Inman probably implied was that the DNI will be more like a figurehead and not like the decision-making locus that the 9/11 commission had recommended. The drawbacks of DNI can be seen with DNI James R. Clapper’s spy lie in March 2013. Clapper had lied under oath during sworn testimony given to the Senate. Clapper had asserted that the NSA did not intentionally collected and stored data on the people of the country. However, his claims were proved wrong by former contractor Edward Snowden through leaked NSA documents. Clapper later apologised for his remarks and had to take back his words. More recently, Clapper was again on the spot when he spoke of the terror threats faced by the US. He went on to say that the threats had become more disperse than ever amid an expansion of extremists groups.
Thus, even though the DNI has been formed and incepted, the centralization of the intelligence community has not proven to be the best way towards reformation. Such remarks by the chief of the nation's intelligence departments has not only created commotion within the political sphere but has also created a trust deficit between the intelligence agency and the public. It shows that organizational nostrums alone cannot improve the security of the country. The reform and the inception of the DNI are far short from the locus of decision-making and responsibility stipulated by the 9/11 commission.
Works cited
CRS Report for Congress. August, 12, 2004. Retrieved August, 6, 2014, from http://fas.org/irp/crs/RL32506.pdf
Obama on Clapper's spy lie: 'He should have been more careful'. January, 31, 2014. Retrieved August, 10, 2014, from http://rt.com/usa/obama-dni-clapper-lie-485/
