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The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) and to direct and oversee the National Intelligence Program (NIP). All IC agencies report directly to the DNI. The DNI also serves, upon invitation, as an advisor to the president of the United States, the
National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...
and the Homeland Security Council on all intelligence matters. The DNI, supported by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), produces the President's Daily Brief (PDB), a top-secret document including intelligence from all IC agencies, handed each morning to the president of the United States. President George W. Bush strengthened the role of the DNI on July 30, 2008, with Executive Order 13470, which, among other things, solidified the DNI's authority to set goals for intelligence gathering and analysis and to set policy for intelligence sharing with foreign agencies and for the hiring and firing of senior intelligence officials. The DNI was given further responsibility for the entire IC's
whistleblowing A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
and source protection by President Obama via Presidential Policy Directive 19 on October 10, 2012. Under , "under ordinary circumstances, it is desirable" that either the director or the principal deputy director of national intelligence be an active-duty commissioned officer in the
armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
or have training or experience in military intelligence activities and requirements. Only one of the two positions can be held by a military officer at any given time. The statute does not specify what rank the commissioned officer will hold during their tenure in either position. The DNI, who is appointed by the president of the United States and is subject to confirmation by the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
, serves at the pleasure of the president. Upon the inauguration of President Joe Biden, the position was elevated to Cabinet-level. The DNI attends all Cabinet meetings and liaises with the Executive Office of the President and other Cabinet secretaries in the execution of their duties.


History


Founding

Before the DNI was formally established, the head of the Intelligence Community was the
director of central intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...
(DCI), who concurrently served as the director of the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA). The
9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...
recommended establishing the DNI position in its '' 9/11 Commission Report'', not released until July 22, 2004, as it had identified major intelligence failures that called into question how well the intelligence community was able to protect U.S. interests against foreign terrorist attacks. Senators
Dianne Feinstein Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she wa ...
, Jay Rockefeller and
Bob Graham Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham (born November 9, 1936) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 38th governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States senator from Florida from 1987 to 2005. He is a member of the De ...
introduced S. 2645 on June 19, 2002, to create the position of Director of National Intelligence. Other similar legislation soon followed. After considerable debate on the scope of the DNI's powers and authorities, the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 by votes of 336–75 in the House of Representatives, and 89–2 in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on December 17, 2004. Among other things, the law established the DNI position as the designated leader of the United States Intelligence Community and prohibited the DNI from serving as the CIA director or the head of any other intelligence community element at the same time. In addition, the law required the CIA Director to report his agency's activities to the DNI. Critics say compromises during the bill's crafting led to the establishment of a DNI whose powers are too weak to adequately lead, manage and improve the performance of the intelligence community. In particular, the law left the
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
in charge of the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
(NSA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of natio ...
(NGA).


Appointments

The first Director of National Intelligence was U.S. ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte who was appointed on February 17, 2005, by President George W. Bush, subject to confirmation by the Senate. It was reported that President Bush's first choice for DNI was former
director of central intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...
Robert M. Gates, who was serving as president of
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...
, but who declined the offer. Negroponte was confirmed by a Senate vote of 98–2 on April 21, 2005, and he was sworn in by President Bush the same day. On February 13, 2007, Mike McConnell became the second Director of National Intelligence, after Negroponte was appointed Deputy Secretary of State. Donald M. Kerr was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence on October 4, 2007, and sworn in on October 9, 2007. Kerr, from Virginia, was previously the director of the National Reconnaissance Office and the deputy director for science and technology at the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
before that. Earlier in his career, he was an assistant director at the FBI, in charge of their Laboratory Division from 1997 to 2001. On July 20, 2010, President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
nominated retired
Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
lieutenant general James Clapper as the fourth DNI. Clapper was confirmed by the Senate on August 5, and replaced acting director David C. Gompert. This followed Obama's dismissal of the third DNI, retired
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...
admiral Dennis C. Blair, whose resignation became effective May 28, 2010. The fifth DNI,
Dan Coats Daniel Ray Coats (born May 16, 1943) is an American politician, attorney, and former diplomat. From 2017 to 2019, he served as the Director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a ...
, the sixth DNI,
John Ratcliffe John Ratcliffe or John Ratcliff may refer to: Politicians *John Ratcliffe (American politician), former Director of National Intelligence, former congressman in Texas' 4th Congressional District, and former U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of ...
, and acting DNIs
Joseph Maguire Joseph Maguire (born August 14, 1951) is an American officer who served as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and Acting Director of National Intelligence under President Donald Trump. He retired from the United States Navy as a v ...
, Richard Grenell and Lora Shiao, all served between March 16, 2017, and January 21, 2021, during the administration of President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
. The seventh and current DNI is Avril Haines, who took office on January 21, 2021. The first woman to hold the office, she was nominated by President-elect Joe Biden on November 23, 2020 and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2021.


Website issues

Declan McCullagh Declan McCullagh is an American entrepreneur, journalist, and software engineer. He is the CEO and co-founder, with computer scientist Celine Bursztein, of Recent Media Inc., a startup in Silicon Valley that has built a recommendation engine and i ...
at News.com wrote on August 24, 2007, that the DNI site was configured to repel all search engines to index any page at DNI.gov. This effectively made the DNI website invisible to all search engines and in turn, any search queries. Ross Feinstein, Spokesman for the DNI, said that the cloaking was removed as of September 3, 2007. "We're not even sure how (the robots.txt file) got there"but it was again somehow hidden the next day. On September 7, McCullagh reported that the DNI appeared to be open to web searches again.


Reform initiatives

In September 2007, the Office of the DNI released "''Intelligence Community 100 Day & 500 Day Plans for Integration & Collaboration''". These plans include a series of initiatives designed to build the foundation for increased cooperation and reform of the U.S. Intelligence Community.


Office of the Director of National Intelligence

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 established the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as an independent agency to assist the DNI. The ODNI's goal is to effectively integrate foreign, military and domestic intelligence in defense of the homeland and of United States interests abroad. The ODNI has about 1,750 employees. Its headquarters are in
McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its prox ...
. On March 23, 2007, DNI Mike McConnell announced organizational changes, which include: * Elevating Acquisition to a new Deputy DNI position * Creating a new Deputy DNI for Policy, Plans, and Requirements (replacing the Deputy DNI for Requirements position) * Establishing an Executive Committee * Designating the Chief of Staff position as the new Director of the Intelligence Staff The ODNI continued to evolve under succeeding directors, culminating in an organization focused on intelligence integration across the community.


Organization

The ODNI leadership includes the director, principal deputy director and chief operating officer. In addition, the Director of Defense Intelligence reports to the DNI. There are two directorates, each led by a Deputy Director of National Intelligence: * Mission Integration Directorate ** National Intelligence Council ** President's Daily Brief * Policy & Capabilities Directorate **
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is an organization within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence responsible for leading research to overcome difficult challenges relevant to the United States Intellige ...
There are four mission centers, each led by a director of that center: * National Counterproliferation Center * National Counterterrorism Center * National Counterintelligence and Security Center * Foreign Malign Influence Center There are also four oversight offices: * Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency * Office of Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity * Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General * Office of General Counsel


Directors


Line of succession

The line of succession for the director of national intelligence is as follows: # Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence # Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration # Director of the National Counterterrorism Center # Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center #
Inspector General of the Intelligence Community The Inspector General Act of 1978 is a United States federal law that created Inspectors General for federal agencies and provides broad authorities for overseeing programs, promoting efficiencies, and detecting fraud, waste, and mismanagement ...


Subordinates


Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence

:a.


Chief Operating Officer


Director of the Intelligence Staff/ Chief Management Officer


Inspector General of the Intelligence Community

:a.


Deputy directors of national intelligence


Assistant directors of national intelligence


See also

* Information Sharing Environment *
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is an organization within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence responsible for leading research to overcome difficult challenges relevant to the United States Intellige ...
*
Intellipedia Intellipedia is an online system for collaborative data sharing used by the United States Intelligence Community (IC). It was established as a pilot project in late 2005 and formally announced in April 2006. Intellipedia consists of three w ...
* Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) *
National Intelligence Coordination Center The National Intelligence Coordination Center was established on 1 October 2007 by the United States Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The center's purpose is to give the DNI the means to more effectively and efficiently direct and integrate ...
* The National Security Act of 1947 * Open source intelligence * Title 32 of the CFR *
United States Joint Intelligence Community Council The Joint Intelligence Community Council (JICC) assists the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in implementing a joint, unified national intelligence effort to protect national and homeland security and advise the DNI on setting requirements, m ...
*
US intelligence community A-Space The United States Intelligence Community A-Space, or Analytic Space, is a project started in 2007 from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's (ODNI) Office of Analytic Transformation and Technology to develop a common collaborative ...


References


External links

* {{War on Terror
United States Directors of National Intelligence United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
National Intelligence Government agencies established in 2005 Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections