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Report Slams Spy Agencies

Internal probe finds intelligence agencies have failed to streamline under DNI

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 2, 2009 5:46 AM CDT

(Newser) – America's 16 spy agencies have failed to stop infighting and fix weaknesses identified after 9/11, according to an internal report released yesterday. The report sharply criticizes the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for failing to streamline intelligence analysis and spur cooperation and information-sharing among agencies, as it was created to do, the New York Times reports.

The report—completed before President Obama took office—charges that intelligence chiefs have been spending too much time briefing the White House and Congress and not enough managing intelligence agencies. Lawmakers, dismayed by the report's findings, said its conclusions added weight to their accusations that legislation creating the DNI had merely added a bloated layer of bureaucracy to the top of the intelligence community.

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair waits to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 10, 2009, before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on worldwide threats. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

A man walks across the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at the lobby of the Original Headquarters Building at the CIA headquarters February 19, 2009 in McLean, Virginia. (Getty Images)

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This report reads like back to the future. These are the same kind of management and information sharing problems that plagued the CIA before 9/11.
- Amy Zegart, a UCLA professor who has written extensively on intelligence matters

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Report Slams Spy Agencies