Director Of National Intelligence

WASHINGTON - Cyber-attacks and cyber-espionage pose a greater potential danger to U.S. national security than Al Qaeda and other militants that have dominated America's global focus since Sept. 11, 2001, the nation's top intelligence officials said Tuesday. For the first time, the growing risk of computer-launched foreign assaults on U.S. infrastructure, including the power grid, transportation hubs and financial networks, was ranked higher in the U.S. intelligence community's annual review of worldwide threats than worries about terrorism, transnational organized crime and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

WASHINGTON - Cyber-attacks and cyber-espionage pose a greater potential danger to U.S. national security than Al Qaeda and other militants that have dominated America's global focus since Sept. 11, 2001, the nation's top intelligence officials said Tuesday. For the first time, the growing risk of computer-launched foreign assaults on U.S. infrastructure, including the power grid, transportation hubs and financial networks, was ranked higher in the U.S. intelligence community's annual review of worldwide threats than worries about terrorism, transnational organized crime and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

President Obama's nominee to head the intelligence community appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee this week and made encouraging noises about maximizing his mandate and cooperating with Congress. Retired Air Force Gen. James R. Clapper, who would be the fourth director of national intelligence, insisted that he wouldn't be a "titular figurehead or a hood ornament," an implicit acknowledgment that his predecessor, Navy Adm. Dennis C. Blair, had been marginalized, losing turf wars to the CIA and the president's in-house intelligence adviser.

WASHINGTON - Authorities with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the CIA, decided to remove the terms "attack," "Al Qaeda" and "terrorism" from unclassified guidance provided to the Obama administration several days after militants attacked the U.S. mission in Benghazi, a senior official said Tuesday. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, relied on the so-called talking points when she appeared on several Sunday TV talk shows five days after the Sept.

The U.S. government's intelligence agencies are out of control again. Not in the old, rogue-elephant sense of covert operatives running private wars. Not even in the bureaucratic sense of spending money in unauthorized ways or launching programs Congress didn't know about. This time, the loss of control happened in plain sight, with full approval from on high. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. intelligence spending has more than doubled. The country's 16 major intelligence agencies are poorly coordinated and often duplicate one another's work.

WASHINGTON - Authorities with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the CIA, decided to remove the terms "attack," "Al Qaeda" and "terrorism" from unclassified guidance provided to the Obama administration several days after militants attacked the U.S. mission in Benghazi, a senior official said Tuesday. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, relied on the so-called talking points when she appeared on several Sunday TV talk shows five days after the Sept.

"Bad Fix for CIA's Defects" (editorial, June 14) correctly diagnosed the ills in our intelligence community but implied that efforts to fix them by creating a director of national intelligence amounted to little more than an additional, unnecessary bureaucracy. On the contrary. Some proposals, such as the Intelligence Transformation Act, co-sponsored by more than 20 members of Congress, would focus on changes designed to network the intelligence agencies into an integrated, ultimately more effective, capability.

NEVER MIND THE new faces on Capitol Hill, where Congress has changed hands for the first time in 12 years. The real action is at the White House, in Foggy Bottom and across the river at the Pentagon, where the Bush administration's game of musical chairs seems to be over for now. For all the new jobs, however, there are precious few new faces, and anyone expecting new policies is bound to be disappointed. It has been a busy few weeks. Today, President Bush is expected to name John D.

National Intelligence Director Dennis C. Blair announced his resignation Thursday after a rocky 16-month tenure during which he found himself on the losing end of turf battles and struggled to develop a close relationship with President Obama. The White House has been interviewing candidates to replace Blair but has not chosen one, several officials said. Blair's departure surprised his staff and many members of Congress. He had told associates that he intended to remain in the job for four years.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) will seek to block passage of an intelligence bill that extends the government's eavesdropping authorities because the intelligence community won't say how many Americans are being monitored, he said Tuesday.  At issue is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was passed in 1978 in response to revelations of political wiretapping. The law was updated in 2008 in a way that essentially legalized President George W. Bush's “warrantless wiretapping” program aimed at stopping terrorism plots.

WASHINGTON - In an effort to make it more difficult for the news media to divulge secret programs, America's top intelligence official plans to seek more non-criminal leak investigations and to require intelligence agency employees to answer in polygraph examinations whether they have disclosed classified information to journalists, his office announced Monday. “These efforts will reinforce our professional values,” said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who has been vocal in criticizing recent news stories that detailed classified intelligence programs.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) will seek to block passage of an intelligence bill that extends the government's eavesdropping authorities because the intelligence community won't say how many Americans are being monitored, he said Tuesday.  At issue is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was passed in 1978 in response to revelations of political wiretapping. The law was updated in 2008 in a way that essentially legalized President George W. Bush's “warrantless wiretapping” program aimed at stopping terrorism plots.

With forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi continuing to pound and push rebel forces into retreat, America's top intelligence official said the Libyan dictator was likely to prevail in the long term, a fresh indication that the current reliance on diplomacy by Western nations may not be enough to topple him. In a blunt assessment, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a Senate panel Thursday that the battlefield momentum had begun to...

President Obama's nominee to head the intelligence community appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee this week and made encouraging noises about maximizing his mandate and cooperating with Congress. Retired Air Force Gen. James R. Clapper, who would be the fourth director of national intelligence, insisted that he wouldn't be a "titular figurehead or a hood ornament," an implicit acknowledgment that his predecessor, Navy Adm. Dennis C. Blair, had been marginalized, losing turf wars to the CIA and the president's in-house intelligence adviser.

The U.S. government's intelligence agencies are out of control again. Not in the old, rogue-elephant sense of covert operatives running private wars. Not even in the bureaucratic sense of spending money in unauthorized ways or launching programs Congress didn't know about. This time, the loss of control happened in plain sight, with full approval from on high. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. intelligence spending has more than doubled. The country's 16 major intelligence agencies are poorly coordinated and often duplicate one another's work.

President Obama's nominee to lead the nation's sprawling intelligence apparatus promised Tuesday to strengthen the "perceived weakness" of the position amid concerns that the 16 intelligence agencies are duplicating effort and failing to coordinate. Retired Air Force Gen. James R. Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee at his confirmation hearing that he would "push the envelope" as the nation's fourth director of national intelligence, pursuing greater authority for a post that has been seen as too weak for its occupant to assert control.

President Obama's nominee to lead the nation's sprawling intelligence apparatus promised Tuesday to strengthen the "perceived weakness" of the position amid concerns that the 16 intelligence agencies are duplicating effort and failing to coordinate. Retired Air Force Gen. James R. Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee at his confirmation hearing that he would "push the envelope" as the nation's fourth director of national intelligence, pursuing greater authority for a post that has been seen as too weak for its occupant to assert control.

The abrupt departure of John D. Negroponte as the nation's spy chief prompted angry responses from Capitol Hill and triggered new debate Thursday over whether a position created to fix the nation's intelligence problems is itself fundamentally flawed. President Bush is expected to announce today that Negroponte will become the top deputy at the State Department. Bush also is set to nominate retired Navy Vice Adm. J. Michael McConnell to be the next director of national intelligence.

National Intelligence Director Dennis C. Blair announced his resignation Thursday after a rocky 16-month tenure during which he found himself on the losing end of turf battles and struggled to develop a close relationship with President Obama. The White House has been interviewing candidates to replace Blair but has not chosen one, several officials said. Blair's departure surprised his staff and many members of Congress. He had told associates that he intended to remain in the job for four years.