The New Spy Masters
President Bush's appointment in February of career ambassador and diplomat John Negroponte to be the director of national intelligence was a first step in what is sure to be a years-long process of reform, overhaul and maybe even remaking of the intelligence agencies.
After the surprise attacks of Sept. 11, the flawed assessment of Iraq's weapons programs and continued hostilities among political officials and the career intelligence force, Negroponte's mandate to get the intelligence "community" to behave like one couldn't be clearer. But Negroponte is just one man. Along with his new position comes a host of others-assistant directors, heads of new centers and units-that will make changes, if there are to be any, through day-to-day management.
The new spy chief has picked some of his first lieutenants. A number of them hail from outside the traditional intelligence world. Some are career Foreign Service officers, like Negroponte. Others are longtime consumers of intelligence, rather than producers-again, like Negroponte. And some have deep backgrounds in the CIA and the FBI.
By and large, the new spy masters have hefty policy and managerial experience. Some have been praised as hard-charging leaders who will command respect and attract followers. Others have been criticized for a lack of specific expertise in the fields to which they've been assigned. But all of them have one thing in common: They're backed with the full support of the new intelligence director and, by extension, the president. With that in mind, what follows is a first look at the team the administration thinks can fix American intelligence.
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