Unfortunately, the pluses of A-Space are being overshadowed by numerous problems that continue to plague US spying efforts. The inspector general said that not only do those working for the DNI not know what their end purpose is, but they are part of a bloated bureaucracy that is fiscally mismanaged and spends too much time fighting turf wars with those in the CIA and other intelligence agencies. Many of these problems were called out by the Sept. 11 commission in its 2005 report, demonstrating that the DNI—established to clean up and improve intelligence gathering—is making many of the same mistakes that allowed hijackers to carry out their attacks in 2001.

 

Also, there continues to be debate over how the DNI should spend their time between the duties of advising the president and overseeing all American intelligence agencies. Edward Maguire, the DNI’s inspector general, told Congress that limits might have to be placed on the number of days the DNI briefs the president.

 

Meanwhile, the federal government continues to throw more money at the poorly-performing intelligence community. The budgets of the nation’s spy agencies have ballooned since Sept. 11—to more than $45 billion a year. The inspector general’s report also criticized the DNI office for poor financial management, saying agencies were “struggling to achieve auditable financial statements.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Report Faults U.S. Spy Agencies (by Mark Mazzetti, New York Times)

Critical Intelligence Community Management Challenges (Inspector General, Office of the Director of National Intelligence) (PDF)