United States Director of National Intelligence

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**Office of the Director of National Intelligence**

Established:	December 17, 2004
Activated:	April 22, 2005
Director:	John D. Negroponte
Principal DDNI:	Ronald L. Burgess (Acting)
Budget:	Classified
Employees:	Classified

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is the United States government official subject to the authority, direction and control of the President of the United States who is responsible under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 for:

Serving as the principal adviser to the President of the United States, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council for intelligence matters related to the national security;

Serving as the head of the sixteen member United States Intelligence Community; and

Overseeing and directing the National Intelligence Program of the United States.

1 History
2 Organizational chart
3 Directors of National Intelligence
4 References
5 See Also
6 External links
- 6.1 Articles

[edit] History

Prior to establishment of the DNI, the head of the Intelligence Community was the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). The DCI concurrently served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Establishment of the DNI position was one of the recommendations in the report by the 9/11 Commission investigating the September 11 attacks. The report, which was released on July 22, 2004, identified major intelligence failures that called into the question how well the Intelligence Community protected US national and homeland security interests against attacks by foreign terrorists.

After considerable debate on the scope of the DNI's powers and authorities, the United State Congress 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. 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 US Intelligence Community.^[1] In particular, the law left the United States Department of Defense in charge of the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. (The limited DNI role in leading the US Intelligence Community is discussed in the Intelligence Community article.)

On February 17, 2005, President George W. Bush named U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte to the post, pending confirmation by the Senate. It was reported that President Bush's first choice for Director of National Intelligence was former Director of Central Intelligence Robert M. Gates, who was serving as president of Texas A&M University; however, Gates declined the offer.^[2] Negroponte was confirmed by a Senate vote of 98 to 2 in favor of his appointment on April 21, 2005, and was sworn in by President Bush on that day.

[edit] Organizational chart

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 established Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as an independent agency to assist the DNI in carrying-out his duties. The total number of employees in the ODNI is classified, as are portions of the ODNI budget. The National Counterterrorism Center is a major organization within the ODNI. The chart below is the Office's organization as of June 2006.

[edit] Directors of National Intelligence

Name	Term of Office	Principal Deputy	Term of Office	President(s) served under
John Negroponte	April 21, 2005–	Michael Hayden, GEN, U.S. Air Force	April 21, 2005–May 26, 2006	George W. Bush
		Ronald L. Burgess, Jr., LTG, U.S. Army (acting)	June, 2006–present	George W. Bush
		replacement yet to be determined