By Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 13, 2003; 9:27 AM

With all the recent talk of intelligence reform and accountability in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a new year begins with the leadership of the intelligence community largely intact.

In the latest development, Marion "Spike" Bowman of the FBI, whose National Security Law Unit denied a request from the Minneapolis field office for a warrant against suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui before the Sept. 11 attacks, has just received a large cash bonus and a presidential citation for recruiting high-quality attorneys.

Over at the CIA, George J. Tenet continues to confound his critics and surpass all expectations for longevity as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), enjoying what is by all accounts an extremely close relationship with President Bush. He is the first DCI since Richard Helms in the late 1960s to serve under two different presidents.

Tenet could become the longest serving DCI in history, surpassing Allen Dulles (1953-1961), if he stays in office until July 30, 2006, which seems unlikely. However, he will surpass William J. Casey in longevity if he serves until July 12, 2003. He could surpass Helms, next in longevity to Dulles, if he serves until Feb. 14, 2004, a distinct possibility.

James R. Clapper, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency now running the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, is the frontrunner to head the new Department of Homeland Security's Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Division.

There is little in Clapper's defense background that gives him particular qualifications in either homeland security or domestic counterterrorism. But Clapper, a thoughtful, low-key man with a sense of how the private sector operates after a stint as a vice president at SRA International, could prove well suited for the main task at hand: fusing massive amounts of data, and convincing a dozen other intelligence agencies to share it with one another.

By far the most interesting personality on the horizon is Stephen Cambone, the Pentagon's director of defense program analysis and evaluation. He is considered the frontrunner to become under secretary of defense for intelligence. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld created the new post to coordinate affairs among dozens of intelligence officials in the defense establishment.

Cambone clearly has Rumsfeld's trust and confidence as a man who can make things happen. Indeed, Rumsfeld already has him scrutinizing Future Imagery Architecture, a program for building next-generation spy satellites that is way over budget and clearly troubled.

One of the most critical decisions Tenet and Rumsfeld will have to make this year is what to do when Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden's tour at the National Security Agency, already extended once, comes to an end in August. Given all of the challenges facing the intelligence community, Tenet would be crazy not to keep Hayden around in some capacity, given the rare combination he offers: intellect, experience and a self-effacing way with the people working for him.

On Capitol Hill, three of four leadership positions on the intelligence committees have changed hands, although none of the newcomers seem to be anything close to ardent reformers. Republican leaders in the House waived a term limit to allow Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) to return as chairman for a fourth term. Goss is a class act, knowledgeable and levelheaded. He does his turn before the microphone when need be, but he doesn't crave the sound of his own voice. But Goss is a member of the family, a former CIA case officer, and thus is not predisposed, by temperament and background, to thinking outside the box when it comes to "transforming" the intelligence community, to borrow the Pentagon's favorite word. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calf.) becomes the committee's ranking Democrat.

In the Senate, Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) replaces Bob Graham (D-Fla.) as chairman, and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W-Va.) replaces Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) as ranking Democrat. Shelby was Tenet's nemesis, a persistent critic who urged Bush to replace a man he seemed to regard mainly as a Clinton administration holdover and one who, as a former Senate staffer, hadn't earned the right to be director of central intelligence.

Shelby also broke ranks with the rest of the joint House-Senate intelligence committee investigating 9/11 intelligence failures, concluding that Tenet and other senior intelligence community leaders should be held personally accountable for the government's failure to preempt the attacks on New York and Washington.

Roberts is unlikely to be nearly so contentious.

At one point during the joint committee's hearings, Roberts apologized to a CIA witness, J. Cofer Black, for a staff briefing book that said Black would probably "dissemble" on certain points. "You're almost on trial, sir," Roberts said. "I have to apologize…for the committee…"

Roberts went on to call the panel "a runaway train" and said it was producing a report full of "gotcha charges" designed to grab headlines.

In a press release last week announcing his election as chairman, Roberts said: "I will support strongly our intelligence community while conducting vigorous oversight. I believe strongly that one can be an advocate for the men and women of our intelligence agencies while at the same time ensuring that we safeguard the American people and make sure that they are getting their money's worth."

Black, who headed the CIA's Counterterrorist Center for more than two years prior to 9/11 and insisted upon testifying in public, he said, because "the American people need to see my face," has now risen to become the State Department's Ambassador for Counterterrorism.