Nominee downplays need to overhaul intelligence agencies, authority

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper said Tuesday he does not believe the nation's intelligence apparatus needs to be overhauled and that President Obama has assured him the support he needs if confirmed as the nation's top spymaster.

"I am in the mode of making the model we have work, rather than going through the trauma of another reorganization," Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee during his confirmation hearing to be director of national intelligence.

Clapper finally won over Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who told CongressDaily after the hearing that she will vote for his confirmation.

"I believe that he is prepared to be a strong DNI," Feinstein said. "Secondly, I believe he has the president's confidence, and that adds clout."

But Intelligence Committee ranking member Kit Bond, R-Mo., said he had more questions for Clapper. Some of Clapper's answers during the hearing were not clear and appeared to be inconsistent with his previous positions, Bond said.

Clapper, who now serves as undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, came to the hearing with a reputation for being blunt. Under questioning from senators, he did not dance around several thorny issues.

He said he will not hesitate to "shake up" the intelligence community but believes the DNI already has the necessary authority to manage the spy agencies. His comments run counter to conventional wisdom that the DNI does not have enough budget and personnel authority, a hot-button issue since Obama's first national intelligence director, retired Admiral Dennis Blair, was pushed out of the position in May.

Clapper told senators he does not believe intelligence agencies and operations have grown out of control. But he admitted under questioning that it is difficult to count the number of private contractors working in the field of intelligence.

"That's not to say there aren't inefficiencies and things we can improve," he added.

Clapper said he does not believe all the responsibilities of the DNI have to be run out of his office but rather can be delegated to others. "All I'm saying is that I don't think everything has to be executed from within the confines of the office of the director of national intelligence," he said.

He said he is satisfied with existing guidelines aimed at defining the powers of the DNI while not infringing on the statutory responsibilities of the heads of other federal agencies and departments.

Clapper said he would be an independent leader and added that Obama assured him during a phone call Tuesday morning that he would have the support he needs. "I would not have agreed to take this position on if I were going to be a titular figurehead or a hood ornament," the retired general said.

But Clapper downplayed a document he approved this year that criticized provisions in the fiscal 2010 intelligence authorization bill that would enhance the DNI's power over Pentagon intelligence operations. He said it was his responsibility as a Defense undersecretary to do so and that he would be equally as forceful in defending the authorities of the DNI.

He acknowledged making a mistake by not providing the document to the Senate and House intelligence panels.

Notably, though, Clapper said he supports public disclosure of total spending on both the national intelligence program and the military intelligence program. He added that the Senate Intelligence Committee should also have oversight responsibility for the military intelligence program, a move that could set off a turf war with the Senate Armed Services Committee, which now has the oversight authority.

"You have, as anyone knows, entered into the most deadly minefield in Washington, D.C.," Bond responded.