WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell is overhauling his office, which has been criticized as over-staffed.
"We are moving forward on the next stage of intelligence reform," said McConnell in a statement Friday, "going beyond the initial progress made to better clarify responsibilities and authorities, create a true community of professionals, radically transform tradecraft, accelerate information sharing and modernize how we do business."
McConnell recently replaced John Negroponte as DNI, a new post set up by Congress in 2004.
One change will create a new deputy director post to take charge of acquisition by the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, to "increase technological agility and better posture the (agencies) to achieve acquisition excellence, streamline acquisition policies and processes, and enhance the professionalism of the acquisition workforce," according to the statement.
The aim, officials said, was to avoid the delays, mistakes and cost over-runs that have plagued many big ticket acquisitions by agencies.
Another change will merge several deputy and assistant deputy director positions into a single post overseeing policy, planning and what intelligence insiders call requirements -- the facts and secrets intelligence seek to find or steal.
A third change is the establishment of an executive committee for U.S. intelligence. The committee will include intelligence agency chiefs, the under secretary for defense intelligence at the Pentagon, and representatives from the Departments of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security.
In the fourth and final major change, the director's chief of staff will become the director of the intelligence staff, overseeing all internal administrative functions of the office.
The changes will be implemented immediately and are expected to be completed by mid-April, the statement said.
