NEWS

Past DNIs Share Their Thoughts and Wisdom with DIA

Defense Intelligence Agency Public Affairs

The first three directors of national intelligence (DNI), Ambassador John Negroponte, retired Vice Adm. John McConnell and retired Adm. Dennis Blair, visited Defense Intelligence Agency Headquarters May 2 to discuss their former office, the state of the intelligence community (IC) and the national-security challenges that lie ahead.

"My own view of intelligence is that there is no silver bullet," said Negroponte, the first DNI, when discussing his experience setting up the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in 2004 and trying to integrate the various elements of the IC. "Intelligence is a resource. It is a tool in our toolkit and one that we neglect at our own peril."

Each of the former DNIs pointed out some of the hurdles and limitations facing the position in the early days.

To overcome the challenges, McConnell recalled that integration became a driving force during his tenure. "The thing I felt most strongly about was what I practiced when I was on the inside [of the IC] and what I learned in my business: the power of collaboration," he said. "Once a community or an institution really starts to work in a collaborative way, it's really incredible what is achieved."

"When we harnessed the power of the community, we created insight and understanding that was significant," he added.

Picking up on this point, Blair explained that integration and collaboration will be important in the coming years because the United States will soon face a new era of national security concerns.

"I think we're coming to the end of what's really been the third era [of the last 40 years.] The first era was the Cold War, which ended around the 1990s, then we went into an era that was marked by the after-shocks of the Cold War, and then the third era was the 9/11 wars," explained Blair. "I think that era is ending. We're going now into the fourth era, and like all huge changes in fundamental national security approaches, it will affect the intelligence community in a profound way since our business is trying to inform people about what's going on."

Each of the DNIs concluded their remarks by addressing the way ahead, for both the DNI and the IC in general. "I definitely think in terms of intelligence capabilities, we are better organized and better prepared than we were a decade ago, but there are always improvements that can be made," Negroponte said first, explaining that it is every intelligence professional's responsibility to contemplate ways to push for and seek out progress.

The DNI sets the tone for the future, McConnell added. "From my standpoint, the most important thing [the DNI] can do is address the policy issues," he said. "That's what we're going to have to wrestle with going forward. Now we want to be relevant, get good intelligence, do good analysis and collection, but we have to set a framework for the future."

"I think we have some challenges that we have to keep in mind," added Blair. "I think we should preserve some of the best that we've learned from the past—instances of better tactical support to military units and integration and how to track down individuals through the intelligence system—and not let them slip away."

DIA is the nation’s premier all-source military intelligence organization.

It provides the nation’s most authoritative assessments of foreign military intentions and capabilities. The agency’s four core competencies -- human intelligence, all-source analysis, counterintelligence and technical intelligence -- enable military operations while also informing policy-makers at the defense and national levels.

DIA’s mission is unique and no other agency matches its military expertise across such a broad range of intelligence disciplines.