Director of National Intelligence

Not to be confused with Director of Central Intelligence or Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Director of National Intelligence
Seal of the Director of National Intelligence
Incumbent Avril Haines since January 21, 2021
Office of the Director
Style	Madam Director (informal) The Honorable (formal)
Member of	Cabinet National Security Council Homeland Security Council
Reports to	President
Seat	Washington, D.C.
Appointer	President with Senate advice and consent
Constituting instrument	50 U.S.C. § 3023
Precursor	Director of Central Intelligence (DCI)
Formation	December 17, 2004
First holder	John Negroponte
Deputy	Principal Deputy Director
Website	www.odni.gov

The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) and to direct and oversee the National Intelligence Program (NIP). All 18 IC agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA), report directly to the DNI.

The DNI also serves, upon invitation, as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council on all intelligence matters. The DNI, supported by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), produces the President's Daily Brief (PDB), a classified document including intelligence from all IC agencies, handed each morning to the president of the United States.^[1]

President George W. Bush strengthened the role of the DNI on July 30, 2008, with Executive Order 13470,^[2] which, among other things, solidified the DNI's legal authority to direct intelligence gathering and analysis, and to set policy for intelligence sharing with foreign agencies and for the hiring and firing of senior intelligence officials.^[3] The DNI was given further responsibility for the entire IC's whistleblowing and source protection by President Obama via Presidential Policy Directive 19 on October 10, 2012.

Under 50 U.S.C. § 3026, "under ordinary circumstances, it is desirable" that either the director or the principal deputy director of national intelligence be an active-duty commissioned officer in the armed forces or have training or experience in military intelligence activities and requirements. Only one of the two positions can be held by a military officer at any given time. The statute does not specify what rank the commissioned officer will hold during their tenure in either position. The DNI, who is appointed by the president of the United States and is subject to confirmation by the United States Senate, serves at the pleasure of the president.

The position was elevated to a cabinet-level role during the first presidency of Donald Trump, a status it has retained under President Joe Biden. Currently, the DNI attends all Cabinet meetings and liaises with the Executive Office of the President of the United States and other Cabinet secretaries in the execution of their duties. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated former Congresswoman and U.S. Army reserve lieutenant-colonel Tulsi Gabbard to the position after his election.^[4]

History

Founding

Before the DNI was formally established, the head of the United States Intelligence Community was the director of central intelligence (DCI), who concurrently served as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The 9/11 Commission recommended establishing the DNI position in its 9/11 Commission Report, not released until July 22, 2004, as it had identified major intelligence failures that called into question how well the intelligence community was able to protect U.S. interests against foreign terrorist attacks.

Senators Dianne Feinstein, Jay Rockefeller and Bob Graham introduced S. 2645 on June 19, 2002, to create the position of Director of National Intelligence. Other similar legislation soon followed. After considerable debate on the scope of the DNI's powers and authorities, the United States Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 by votes of 336–75 in the House of Representatives, and 89–2 in the Senate. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on December 17, 2004. Among other things, the law established the DNI position as the designated leader of the United States Intelligence Community and prohibited the DNI from serving as the CIA director or the head of any other intelligence community element at the same time. In addition, the law required the CIA Director to report their agency's activities to the DNI.

Critics say compromises during the bill's crafting led to the establishment of a DNI whose powers are too weak to adequately lead, manage and improve the performance of the intelligence community.^[5] In particular, the law left the United States Department of Defense in charge of the National Security Agency (NSA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

Appointments

The first director of national intelligence was former U.S. ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte who was appointed on February 17, 2005, by President George W. Bush, subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate. It was reported that President Bush's first choice for DNI was former director of central intelligence Robert M. Gates, who was serving as president of Texas A&M University, but who declined the offer.^[6] Negroponte was confirmed by a Senate vote of 98–2 on April 21, 2005, and he was sworn in by President Bush the same day.

On February 13, 2007, Mike McConnell became the second director of national intelligence, after Negroponte was appointed Deputy Secretary of State. Donald M. Kerr was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence on October 4, 2007, and sworn in on October 9, 2007. Kerr, from Virginia, was previously the director of the National Reconnaissance Office and the deputy director for science and technology at the CIA before that. Earlier in his career, he was an assistant director at the FBI, in charge of their Laboratory Division from 1997 to 2001.

On January 29, 2009, retired Navy admiral Dennis C. Blair became the third DNI on after being nominated by newly inaugurated President Barack Obama.^[7] President Obama dismissed Blair whose resignation became effective May 28, 2010.^[8]

On July 20, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated retired Air Force lieutenant general James Clapper as the fourth DNI. Clapper was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 5, and replaced acting director David C. Gompert.

The fifth DNI, Dan Coats, the sixth DNI, John Ratcliffe, and acting DNIs Joseph Maguire, Richard Grenell and Lora Shiao, all served between March 16, 2017, and January 21, 2021, during the first administration of President Donald Trump.

The seventh and current DNI is Avril Haines, who took office on January 21, 2021. The first woman to hold the office, she was nominated by President-elect Joe Biden on November 23, 2020^[9] and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2021.^[10]

On November 13, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence upon returning to the Presidency in January 2025.

Website issues

Declan McCullagh at News.com wrote on August 24, 2007, that the DNI site was configured to repel all search engines to index any page at DNI.gov. This effectively made the DNI website invisible to all search engines and in turn, any search queries.^[11] Ross Feinstein, Spokesman for the DNI, said that the cloaking was removed as of September 3, 2007. "We're not even sure how (the robots.txt file) got there" – but it was again somehow hidden the next day. On September 7, McCullagh reported that the DNI appeared to be open to web searches again.^[12]

Reform initiatives

In September 2007, the Office of the DNI released "Intelligence Community 100 Day & 500 Day Plans for Integration & Collaboration". These plans include a series of initiatives designed to build the foundation for increased cooperation and reform of the U.S. Intelligence Community.^[13]

Office of the Director of National Intelligence

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 established the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as an independent agency to assist the DNI. The ODNI's goal is to effectively integrate foreign, military and domestic intelligence in defense of the homeland and of United States interests abroad.^[14] The ODNI has about 1,750 employees.^[15] Its headquarters are in McLean, Virginia.

On March 23, 2007, DNI Mike McConnell announced organizational changes, which included:

• Elevating Acquisition to a new Deputy DNI position
• Creating a new Deputy DNI for Policy, Plans, and Requirements (replacing the Deputy DNI for Requirements position)
• Establishing an Executive Committee
• Designating the Chief of Staff position as the new Director of the Intelligence Staff

The ODNI continued to evolve under succeeding directors, culminating in an organization focused on intelligence integration across the community.^{[citation needed]}

Organization

The ODNI leadership includes the director, principal deputy director and chief operating officer.^[16] In addition, the Director of Defense Intelligence reports to the DNI.

There are two directorates, each led by a Deputy Director of National Intelligence:^[16][17]

• Mission Integration Directorate
  • National Intelligence Council
  • President's Daily Brief
• Policy & Capabilities Directorate
  • Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity

There are five mission centers, each led by a director of that center:^[16][17]

• National Counterproliferation and Biosecurity Center
• National Counterterrorism Center
• National Counterintelligence and Security Center
• Foreign Malign Influence Center
• Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center

There are also four oversight offices:^[16][17]

• Office of Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency (CLPT), led by the Civil Liberties Protection Officer (CLPO)^[18]
• Office of Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity
• Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General
• Office of General Counsel

Organization seals

• 
  NCBC
• 
  FMIC
• 
  NCTC
• 
  NCSC
• 
  ICIG
• 
  CTIIC

United States Intelligence Community

Main article: United States Intelligence Community

The USIC comprises 17 intelligence agencies and organizations:

• Defense Intelligence Agency
• National Space Intelligence Center (Space Force)
• Sixteenth Air Force (Air Force)
• Military Intelligence Corps (Army)
• Office of Naval Intelligence (Navy)
• Marine Corps Intelligence
• Coast Guard Intelligence
• Central Intelligence Agency
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• National Security Agency
• National Reconnaissance Office
• National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
• Office of National Security Intelligence (Drug Enforcement Administration)
• Office of Intelligence and Analysis (Department of Homeland Security)
• Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Department of State)
• Office of Intelligence and Analysis (Department of the Treasury)
• Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (Department of Energy)

Directors

Position succeeded the Director of Central Intelligence.

No.	Image	Name	Start	End	Duration	President(s)
1		John Negroponte	April 21, 2005	February 13, 2007	1 year, 298 days		George W. Bush (2001–2009)
2		Mike McConnell	February 13, 2007	January 27, 2009	1 year, 349 days
–		Ronald Burgess Acting	January 27, 2009	January 29, 2009	2 days		Barack Obama (2009–2017)
3		Dennis Blair	January 29, 2009	May 28, 2010	1 year, 119 days
–		David Gompert Acting	May 28, 2010	August 5, 2010	69 days
4		James Clapper	August 5, 2010	January 20, 2017	6 years, 168 days
–		Mike Dempsey Acting	January 20, 2017	March 16, 2017	55 days		Donald Trump (2017–2021)
5		Dan Coats	March 16, 2017	August 15, 2019	2 years, 152 days
–		Joe Maguire Acting	August 15, 2019	February 20, 2020	189 days
–		Rick Grenell Acting	February 20, 2020	May 26, 2020	96 days
6		John Ratcliffe	May 26, 2020	January 20, 2021	239 days
–		Lora Shiao Acting	January 20, 2021	January 21, 2021	1 day		Joe Biden (2021–2025)
7		Avril Haines	January 21, 2021	January 20, 2025	3 years, 346 days
8		Tulsi Gabbard	January 20, 2025 (Nominate)

Line of succession

The line of succession for the director of national intelligence is as follows:^[19]

1. Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence
2. Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration
3. Director of the National Counterterrorism Center
4. Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center
5. Inspector General of the Intelligence Community

Subordinates

Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence

Name	Term of office	President(s) served under
Michael Hayden	April 21, 2005 – May 26, 2006	George W. Bush
Ronald L. Burgess Jr. Acting	June 2006 – October 5, 2007
Donald Kerr	October 5, 2007 – January 20, 2009
Ronald L. Burgess Jr. Acting	January 20, 2009 – February 2009	Barack Obama
David C. Gompert	November 10, 2009 – February 11, 2010
Stephanie O'Sullivan	February 18, 2011 – January 20, 2017
Susan M. Gordon	August 7, 2017 – August 15, 2019	Donald Trump
Andrew P. Hallman^a Acting	October 30, 2019 – February 21, 2020
Neil Wiley^a	May 13, 2020 – February 2021	Donald Trump, Joe Biden
Stacey Dixon	August 4, 2021 – present[20]	Joe Biden

a.^ Hallman's and Wiley's position was Principal Executive, which did not require Senate confirmation. The duties were the same as those of a principal deputy director.^[21]

Chief Operating Officer

Name	Term of office	President(s) served under
Deirdre Walsh	February 2018 – May 2020	Donald Trump
Lora Shiao	October 2020 – present	Donald Trump, Joe Biden

Director of the Intelligence Staff/ Chief Management Officer

Name	Term of office	President(s) served under
Ronald L. Burgess Jr.	May 2007 – February 2009	George W. Bush, Barack Obama
John Kimmons	February 2009 – October 2010	Barack Obama
Mark Ewing^[citation needed]	November 2010 – n/a	Barack Obama, Donald Trump

Inspector General of the Intelligence Community

Name	Term of office	President(s) served under
Charles McCullough	October 7, 2010 – March 2017[22]	Barack Obama, Donald Trump
Michael Atkinson	May 17, 2018 – May 3, 2020[23][24][25]	Donald Trump
Thomas Monheim	April 3, 2020[26][27]^a – present	Donald Trump, Joe Biden

a.^ Monheim became Acting IG upon Atkinson's being put on administrative leave on April 3. He remained Acting IG upon and after Atkinson's official removal on May 3.^[27]

Deputy directors of national intelligence

Name	Office	Term of office	President(s) served under
Beth Sanner	Mission Integration	May 2019[28] – March 2021	Donald Trump, Joe Biden
Kevin Meiners[29]	Enterprise Capacity	n/a – present	Donald Trump
Karen Gibson	National Security Partnerships	April 2019[30] – 2020	Donald Trump
Corin Stone[31]	Strategy & Engagement	n/a – present	Donald Trump

Assistant directors of national intelligence

Name	Office	Term of Office	President(s) served under
Dr. Ronald Sanders	ADNI for Human Capital	June 2005 - March 2010	George W Bush, Barack Obama
Deborah Kircher	ADNI for Human Capital	October 2011[32] – present	Barack Obama, Donald Trump
John Sherman	Intelligence Community Chief Information Officer	September 2017[33] – June 2020[34]	Donald Trump
Trey Treadwell[35]	Chief Financial Officer	n/a – present	Donald Trump
Catherine Johnston	ADNI for Systems and Resource Analyses	May 2018[36] – present	Donald Trump
Roy Pettis[37]	ADNI for Acquisition, Procurement and Facilities	n/a – present	Donald Trump
James Smith[38]	ADNI for Policy and Strategy (Acting)	n/a – present	Donald Trump

See also

• Information Sharing Environment
• Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity
• Intellipedia
• Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS)
• National Intelligence Coordination Center
• The National Security Act of 1947
• Open source intelligence
• Title 32 of the CFR
• United States Joint Intelligence Community Council
• US intelligence community A-Space
• Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB)

References

1. "CIA to Cede President's Brief to Negroponte", February 19, 2005, The Washington Post
2. "Executive Order 13470". Federal Register. National Archives and Records Administration. July 30, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
3. Strohm, Chris (August 1, 2008). "Bush Orders Intelligence Overhaul". CongressDaily. Retrieved November 22, 2016 – via republished by Nuclear Threat Initiative at NTI.org.
4. Moore, Elena; Myre, Greg (November 13, 2024). "Trump Picks Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence". National Public Radio. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
5. Kaplan, Fred (December 7, 2004). "You Call That a Reform Bill?". Slate.
6. "Robert M. Gates profile". The Washington Post. November 8, 2006. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
7. ODNI, Biography Archived 2009-02-02 at the Wayback Machine, January 30, 2009
8. Miller, Greg (May 21, 2010). "Dennis C. Blair to resign as Director of National Intelligence". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
9. Jones, Dustin (November 23, 2020). "Avril Haines Nominated As First Female Director Of National Intelligence". NPR. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
10. Jones, Dustin (January 20, 2021). "Senate confirms Avril Haines as director of National Intelligence". Fox news. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
11. McCullagh, Declan (August 24, 2007). "Feds use robots.txt files to stay invisible online. Lame". CNET. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
12. McCullagh, Declan (September 7, 2007). "National Intelligence Web site no longer invisible to search engines". CNET. Archived from the original on February 15, 2014. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
13. "Director of National Intelligence Moves Forward with Intelligence Reform" (PDF). ODNI News Release No. 20-07. DNI.gov. September 13, 2007.
14. "Public Affairs Office, ODNI". Office of the Director of National Intelligence. ODNI. Archived from the original on March 19, 2013. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
15. Clark, Charles (September 2012). "Lifting the Lid". Government Executive. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
16. "Leadership". Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Retrieved September 27, 2019.
17. "Organization". Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
18. 50 U.S.C. § 3029 as added by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.
19. "Designation of Officers of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence To Act as Director of National Intelligence". Federal Register. 78 FR 59159. September 25, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
20. Collins, Carol (August 4, 2021). "Stacey Dixon Confirmed as ODNI Principal Deputy Director; Avril Haines Quoted". Executive Gov. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
21. "Andrew Hallman Joins the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as Principal Executive". dni.gov. October 31, 2019. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
22. Poulsen, Kevin (February 12, 2018). "U.S. Intelligence Shuts Down Damning Report on Whistleblower Retaliation". The Daily Beast – via www.thedailybeast.com.
23. Haberman, Maggie; Savage, Charlie; Fandos, Nicholas (April 3, 2020). "Trump to Fire Intelligence Watchdog Who Had Key Role in Ukraine Complaint". The New York Times. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
24. "Trump Defends Firing 'Terrible' Intel Community Watchdog as Republicans Question Sacking". Politico. April 4, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
25. Kelly, Amita; Neuman, Scott (May 24, 2021). "Fired Intel Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson Pushes Back On His Dismissal". National Public Radio. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
26. "Office of the DNI on Twitter". Archived from the original on April 4, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
27. "Trump Fires Intel IG, Taps White House Confidant for Pandemic Oversight Role". Government Executive. April 4, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
28. "Deputy DNI for Mission Integration". www.dni.gov. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
29. "Deputy DNI, Enterprise Capacity". www.dni.gov. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
30. "Karen Gibson Named Deputy Director of National Intelligence". Executive Gov. April 23, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
31. "Deputy DNI, Strategy & Engagement". www.dni.gov. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
32. "Assistant DNI, Chief Human Capital Office". www.dni.gov. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
33. "Chief Information Officer". www.dni.gov. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
34. "IC CIO Announces Departure" (Press release). Office of the Director of National Intelligence. April 20, 2020. Archived from the original on October 16, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2020. John Sherman, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Intelligence Community (IC), today announced that he will depart the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in June to serve as the Principal Deputy CIO for the U.S. Department of Defense.
35. "Leadership". www.dni.gov. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
36. "Assistant DNI, Systems & Resource Analyses". www.dni.gov. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
37. "NRO Honored at Intelligence Community Acquisition, Facilities, and Log". National Reconnaissance Office. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
38. "Assistant DNI, Policy & Strategy". www.dni.gov. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2019.

Further reading

• James R. Clapper with Trey Brown (2018). Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence. New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0525558644. OCLC 1006804896. Memoir including his time as DNI.

External links

• Official website
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the Federal Register
• 32 CFR Chapter XVII of the Code of Federal Regulations