DNI appoints chief financial officer

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. director of national intelligence has appointed a chief financial officer for the sprawling collection of agencies he manages.

The appointment of Janice Lambert was announced Friday afternoon in a statement from the office of Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell.

Lambert will provide "guidance, oversight, and common standards to ensure effective financial management of National Intelligence Program resources," said the statement The National Intelligence Program is the classified annex to the defense budget that funds the nation's civilian intelligence agencies and offices -- and the 'big four' spy agencies inside the Pentagon.

She will have her work cut out, according to observers.

"A massive task confronts her," government secrecy specialist Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists told United Press International.

The collection of agencies managed by the director of national intelligence is "a far-flung group of organizations each with distinctive budgetary practices," he said. "Developing a comprehensive framework … is a very big job."

Moreover, he pointed out, "The largest parent department for intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, is notoriously unable to account for billions of dollars of spending every year."

The statement from McConnell's office lauds Lambert's experience in "performance budgeting" -- when organizations break down their spending not into the traditional categories of salaries, rent, travel, etc., but rather by matching it against the goals which it has been spent to achieve, so that progress can be benchmarked and value for money measured.

Lambert's "wide-ranging skills in financial management and analysis" will help officials "not only maintain fiscal integrity, but also use resources decisively to achieve our mission," said Donald Kerr, McConnell's deputy, in the statement.

Lambert was previously chief financial officer of the Internal Revenue Service, a post she held since March 2005. She was responsible for keeping track of more than $2 trillion sent to the agency by taxpayers, and its $10.5 billion annual operating budget.

Before joining the IRS, Lambert was budget director at the U.S. Department of Treasury. She led the implementation of the department's first- ever integrated budget effort, which consolidated the budget and annual performance plans of Treasury's bureaus.

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Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor