Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Reforming America's Intelligence Community


Another Look At Clapper’s Efforts -- Washington Post

Time to update our view of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the direction it is taking under its director, James R. Clapper Jr.

Clapper is making the integration of collection and analysis his first priority, not just through 17 national intelligence managers — whose job is to coordinate the handling of regional or functional targeted problems — but also through an ambitious multi-year attempt to broaden access to data from all community agencies for those with authority to see it.

Read more ....

My Comment: Walter Pincus had to take a dig at former CIA director William Casey and his role in Iran-contra without acknowledging his numerous accomplishments .... working with our allies in Afghanistan against the Soviet union, working to bring down the Soviet Union with our allies in eastern Europe, and scores more that I do not have the space or time to mention here.

The fact is that every new administration that comes to power will have intelligence successes and failures .... and I expect DNI Director Clapper to be no exception. So far .... we have been extremely lucky, as well as effective in targeting and eliminating some very bad guys on the international scene. As to Clapper's reforms on making the U.S. Intelligence community more effective in analyzing and acting upon the intelligence that it receives .... that is the $64,000 question that will need time to pass before any judgement can be made.

But the most role that Director Clapper will now have to face will be the cutbacks that are expected in the intelligence community's budgets. How these will be handled will be a true test of his effectiveness as director of this agency, and whether his reforms can withstand such cutbacks.

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