The Long Road Toward Intelligence Reform

The changes to the U.S. intelligence community after the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States were perhaps the most comprehensive in five decades. Intelligence reformers have sought to improve integration within the community as well as strengthen the intelligence tools at its disposal. Although the reforms achieved important progress in some areas, certain pre-9/11 difficulties have persisted while new ones have arisen.

Restructuring The Executive Branch: The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act

The greatest influence in shaping the contours of recent intelligence reform in the United States was the 9/11 Commission (officially the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States), many of whose recommendations were enacted in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004. Among its most visible measures, the IRTPA established the new position of Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The DNI oversees the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) and serves as the principal intelligence adviser to the president (including preparing and delivering the President's Daily Brief), two roles previously performed by the dual-hatted CIA director.