Restructuring Intelligence Services
In addition to the daily coordination and tasking of intelligence activities, the DDI specifies the mix of intelligence resources required to implement the domestic portion of the national intelligence strategies (including recommendations for agency staffing and budgeting) and assigns foreign intelligence tasks to agencies for implementation. The DDI also is tasked with writing an annual evaluation for the responsible cabinet secretaries of the performance of each of the various domestic intelligence agencies under their jurisdictions, and a quadrennial Integrated Intelligence Capabilities Assessment for the president (preferably to be delivered shortly after the election to minimize the political component in the debate over recommended changes) describing the performance, successes, shortcomings, and needs of the various domestic intelligence agencies. Thus, although the DDI does not have direct authority to hire/fire or allocate budgetary resources, he recommends to the President and the Congress the allocation of resources among the various agencies, provides an independent assessment of organizational performance, and provides an independent and integrated assessment of the relative effectiveness of the various domestic intelligence agencies. It is presumed that with an outsider at the DPC level evaluating their performance relative to other agencies in a formalized way – and making budgetary and responsibility recommendations to the President and the Congress based on those evaluations – that the various agencies have incentive to improve their work products rather than their political standing.
Since the annual agency assessment is intended as an internal executive branch management tool, the results for a given agency are provided only to the responsible cabinet secretary and to the President. The quadrennial assessment is intended as a national policy tool, and is provided to all cabinet secretaries, to the President, and to the responsible intelligence committees of the Congress.
To minimize political pressures the DDI is appointed by the President for a 10 year term, and must be confirmed by 60 votes in the Senate; the DDI may only be removed by the same process: a request from the President for removal and a 60 vote concurrence by the Senate. To minimize transitional problems, the term of the DDI should generally be out of step with the term of the DFI by several years (nominally five years) so they are not both replaced at the same time.
The DDI’s deputies – the Directors of the mid-level offices directly below the DDI – are chosen by the DDI and approved by the President and a majority in the Senate. These Directors may be removed by the DDI at his discretion, or by the President with the concurrence of a majority of the Senate.