WASHINGTON — A Bush administration plan to issue new orders realigning the chain of command over U.S. spy services has triggered turf-related skirmishes across the intelligence community.
The changes could erode the CIA's standing as the nation's lead spy service abroad by requiring agency station chiefs in certain countries to cede authority to officials from other U.S. spy agencies, officials said.
The revisions would also give the nation's intelligence chief greater power over individual spy services that traditionally have been dominated by the Department of Defense, including the National Security Agency, officials said.
The proposals have met stiff resistance from the CIA and other agencies still settling into roles that were dramatically redefined by legislation four years ago.
The latest revisions are designed to bolster the authority of the director of national intelligence, a position created after the Sept. 11 attacks to compel better cooperation within the often fractious intelligence community.
Officials described the pending changes on condition of anonymity because they are not final. White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said a review process to update rules was in progress.
Some U.S. intelligence officials have warned that the changes could create confusion over who is in charge of running spy operations and managing the United States' relationships with foreign intelligence services.
"The DNI was created to give strategic guidance to the whole intelligence community, not micromanage the day-to-day activities of its members," said a U.S. intelligence official familiar with the negotiations over the changes. "You don't want to have an even weaker community than existed before."
The revisions represent a sweeping overhaul of an executive order first issued by President Reagan in 1981, a document that defined the roles of U.S. spy agencies and placed limits on their activities -- including a ban on assassinations.
Drafts of the rewritten order -- known in intelligence circles by its number, 12333 -- have been circulating among top intelligence officials in recent weeks, prompting last-minute lobbying efforts by affected agencies.
A spokesman for Director of National Intelligence J. Michael McConnell declined to comment on the revised order but said it was expected to be completed in mid-June.
