Not Exactly a Czar.

Well, congratulations, House of Representatives: You've finally made the compromises necessary to pass an intelligence overhaul bill that already had plenty of support to pass before a couple of well-placed legislators demanded the compromises. But why quibble? At the end of the day, we've got a spanking new layer in the intelligence chain of command in the form of a director of national intelligence. And he or she controls the budgets of 15 spy agencies--except that the director can only shift around $150 million (and not more than 5 percent of any agency's budget) in any given year. Still, the DNI can transfer personnel around to address developing needs--well, not more than 100 personnel, it turns out. OK, but at least the director can order the spies to take on new tasks as contingencies arise--umm, as long as such moves don't impinge on the military chain of command in some way. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., crows to the L.A. Times today about how he got the bill watered down to the point where it's not at all clear exactly what authority the DNI actually has. Let's let former CIA general counsel Jeffrey Smith have the last word (in the New York Times) on what the House has wrought: "Lawyers across the intelligence community will be arguing about what these provisions mean for many months to come."