Director of National Intelligence

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is appointed by the President of the United States of America, per the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which in 2024 has about 1750 employees. The ODNI, headquartered in McLean, Virginia just outside Washington, D.C., was created to integrate foreign, military and domestic intelligence in defense of the homeland and of United States interests abroad after the 2001 9-11 Attack made it apparent that various United States Intelligence agencies had not shared information adequately to have prevented the attack even though enough information existed in various pockets here and there.

Congress specified that the Director and Principal Deputy Director cannot both be active-duty military officers and that one or the other should be a military intelligence officer, usually of four-star rank, or have extensive experience in military intelligence. 50 U.S.C. § 403-3a

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)

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 has about 1,500 employees. The National Counterterrorism Center is a major organization within the ODNI.

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

• 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.

100 Day/500 Day Plans

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has 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.

History

Prior to establishment of the DNI, the head of the United States Intelligence Community was the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). The DCI concurrently served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Establishment of the DNI position was one of the recommendations in the 9/11 Commission Report|report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States|9/11 Commission investigating the 9/11|September 11 attacks. The report, which was released on July 22, 2004, identified major intelligence failures that called into question how well the Intelligence Community protected US national and homeland security interests against attacks by foreign terrorists.

Soon thereafter Senators Dianne Feinstein, John D. Rockefeller IV and Bob Graham introduced legislation to create a Director of National Intelligence, S. 2645, introduced on June 19, 2002. 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 U.S. House of Representatives|House of Representatives, and 89-2 in the United States Senate|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" his 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 US Intelligence Community. 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. (The limited DNI role in leading the US Intelligence Community is discussed in the United States Intelligence Community|Intelligence Community article.)

On February 17, 2005, President George W. Bush named U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte to the post, pending United States Senate#Appointments|confirmation by the Senate. It was reported that President Bush's first choice for Director of National Intelligence was former Director of Central Intelligence Robert M. Gates, who was serving as president of Texas A&M University; however, Gates declined the offer. Negroponte was confirmed by a Senate vote of 98 to 2 in favor of his appointment on April 21, 2005, and was sworn in by President Bush on that day.

On February 13, 2007, Negroponte was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of State, and John Michael McConnell became the 2nd Director of National Intelligence.

Directors of National Intelligence

Name	image	start	end	President(s) served under	notes
John Negroponte		2005-04-21	2007-02-13	George W. Bush
John McConnell		2007-02-13	2009-01-28	George W. Bush
Dennis Blair		2009-01-27	2010-08-05	Barack Obama
David Gompert		2010-05-28	2010-08-05	Barack Obama	Acting
James Clapper		2010-08-05	2017-01-20	Barack Obama
Michael Dempsey		2017-01-20	2017-03-16	Donald Trump
Dan Coats		2017-03-16	2019-08-15	Donald Trump
Joseph Maguire		2019-08-15	2020-02-20	Donald Trump	Acting
Richard Grenell		2020-02-20	2020-05-26	Donald Trump	Acting
John Ratcliffe		2020-05-26	2021-01-20	Donald Trump
Lora Shiao		2021-01-20	2021-01-21	Joe Biden	Acting
Avril Haines		2021-01-21	present	Joe Biden