Blair says intelligence overhaul far from over

Efforts to overhaul U.S. intelligence operations are "very much a work in progress" and the government has "only scratched the surface on true information sharing," Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said Tuesday.

The fact that an alleged terrorist almost blew up a passenger plane over Detroit on Christmas shows that an intelligence reform law enacted in 2004 is not adequate to meet challenges, Blair said in a far-ranging speech at a conference organized by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Blair said the leaders of U.S. intelligence agencies have shown some willingness to change, but they often give in to institutional barriers rather than fully working as a team.

He listed three overarching goals that would make U.S. intelligence activities better within five years: creating a cadre of joint leaders who work together; fully integrating covert action with other tools of national power; and integrating collection and analysis of information with "relentless" sharing of intelligence to support policymakers and end-users.

Several former intelligence officials who spoke at the conference said U.S. intelligence agencies suffer from confusing lines of authorities, meaning that successful activities often depend on how well key leaders inside different organizations get along personally.

"Today, the law leaves us in a position where it is entirely, entirely personality dependent," said retired Adm. Mike McConnell, who served as DNI in the George W. Bush administration.

McConnell called for the creation of a department of intelligence to better coordinate intelligence agencies. The director of national intelligence should also be tenured, he added.

"If we don't do it that way we're going to continue to argue about these issues, and it will be personality dependent," he said.

He said an overhaul that promotes integration of U.S. intelligence agencies is needed, similar to the Goldwater-Nichols law of the 1980s to integrate the Defense Department. Through the reorganization, the director of national intelligence should be given the "authority, direction and control" that are needed.

"Without that decision authority, we're just debating our points of view," he said.

McConnell has been making bold assertions lately, as he told the Senate Commerce Committee in February that the United States would lose a cyber war if one were to be fought now.

Blair, when asked directly about creating a department of intelligence, said: "I'm kind of pretty busy trying to work with what I have."

Former CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin said there is a gap between the responsibilities of the DNI and the authorities of the office.

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden observed that Blair was not the Obama administration's principal spokesperson in response to the Christmas bombing attempt. Rather, the administration put White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan before the public.

That "is something that 100,000 people, I'm sure, in the intelligence community took note of," Hayden said. "That is not a good thing."

Blair said it does not matter to him who is in front of the cameras as long as the job of protecting the country is getting done.

House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee Chairwoman Jane Harman, D-Calif., also called on the administration to restore a privacy and civil liberties oversight board that was created via the 2004 law but has been vacant for more than two years.

But overall, Harman and Hayden said they believe the country is safer today as a result of the creation of the director of national intelligence.