Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Seeking Integrity at the CIA

By Ray McGovern
November 26, 2008

The Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) must be a person whose previous professional performance has been distinguished by unimpeachable integrity and independence. The director must have the courage of his or her own convictions.

Read on.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mr. McGovern makes some excellent points. A complicating factor for the current DNI is that Congress, having demanded its creation, is now consistently hammering on the DNI for being too large and cumbersome. The political nature of the key leaders has made it very difficult to control.

The ODNI organization has had growing pains typical of any new agency which is normal, however regrettable. But continual criticism by Congress about its size has caused more harm than good.

While the ODNI structure has many flaws, four key flaws that continue to inhibit its ability to function effectively--
- Its key leaders (deputies) have perpetuated the legacies they bring from the agencies they came from (e.g., DIA, CIA, NRO).
- It has no direct control over the analytical corps of the Intelligence Community.
- The unrestrained penchant by some of the ODNI leadership to micro manage the key intelligence mission areas that are beyond the scope of their expertise.
- Most importantly, it has failed to separate itself from the CIA. The CIA is still it landlord, provides all of it's logistical and infrastructure support, and virtually all other forms of support. The ODNI is little more than an suboffice of the CIA.

Despite the DNI title, he is is a virtual prisoner of the CIA bureaucracy. In effect, nothing has changed compared to when the Director of the CIA was also the DCI.