Obama and the DNI

Barack Obama lashed out at systemic intelligence failures over an attempted attack on a US jet amid reports that Washington was planning reprisal strikes against targets in Yemen. (AFP/Jewel Samad)


I was going through the President's speech on the Christmas attack attempt. Needless to say, it was a bit confusing.

First, I'm directing that our intelligence community immediately begin assigning specific responsibility for investigating all leads on high-priority threats so that these leads are pursued and acted upon aggressively — not just most of the time, but all of the time. We must follow the leads that we get. And we must pursue them until plots are disrupted. And that mean assigning clear lines of responsibility.

Second, I'm directing that intelligence reports, especially those involving potential threats to the United States, be distributed more rapidly and more widely. We can't sit on information that could protect the American people.

Third, I'm directing that we strengthen the analytical process, how our analysis — how our analysts process and integrate the intelligence that they receive. My Director of National Intelligence, Denny Blair, will take the lead in improving our day-to-day efforts. My Intelligence Advisory Board will examine the longer-term challenge of sifting through vast universes of intelligence and data in our Information Age.

First, other people will be blamed for failures even though the president stated in the same speech,

Moreover, I am less interested in passing out blame than I am in learning from and correcting these mistakes to make us safer. For ultimately, the buck stops with me.

Second, the CIA can only pass information and does not make policy recommendations. This is one of the reasons I have previously stated there is no such thing as an intelligence failure. From the CIA website,

It is important to know that CIA analysts only report the information and do not make policy recommendations — making policy is left to agencies such as the State Department and Department of Defense. These policymakers use the information that CIA provides to help them formulate US policy toward other countries. It is also important to know that CIA is not a law enforcement organization. That is the job of the FBI; however, the CIA and the FBI cooperate on a number of issues, such as counterintelligence and counterterrorism.

Third comes from the DNI Dennis Blair's official response:

The Intelligence Community has made considerable progress in developing collection and analysis capabilities and improving collaboration, but we need to strengthen our ability to stop new tactics such as the efforts of individual suicide terrorists. The threat has evolved, and we need to anticipate new kinds of attacks and improve our ability to stay ahead of them and protect America.

New tactics? If Dennis Blair believes suicide attacks are a new tactic, the first step in improving U.S. intelligence should be to appoint a new DNI.