Trump is right to want changes to the intelligence community

Was the DNI a disaster? No. As so often happens, structural mistakes are mitigated by personal action. A series of DNIs, starting with John Negroponte and ending with the current occupant, James R. Clapper Jr., struggled mightily against the burdens of the growing bureaucracy. Tellingly, the phrase “DNI” (referring to a person) has come to be largely replaced by “ODNI,” office of the DNI (referring to a huge institution). The DNIs have succeeded; it is the ODNI that has failed. But we cannot rely on the happenstance of having excellent DNIs leading a fundamentally flawed system. Former senator Daniel Coats (R-Ind.), just announced as the president-elect’s nominee for DNI, may be the right person to right-size the operation, but he faces a monumental task.

So what should be done? A simple place to start would be to go back and look at what was contemplated in that first bill. Clapper said as much in hearings last week — that he thought it would be helpful “that some attention be given to, in our case, the legislative underpinnings that established the DNI in the first place.”

If we follow Clapper’s advice and the president-elect’s stated approach, we may be able to get what we needed in the first place: a slim, trim DNI. An admiral to lead a fleet.