Some Lawmakers Doubt DNI Has Taken Intelligence Reins

He said the first task he set for himself, after reading the 271-page statute that set up his job, was to "identify good people to help . . . carry out the mission." But he cautioned that change would not come quickly: "How are we doing? Well, we're up and running. I think we're starting to have an impact. But it's going to take time. I don't think we should be impatient."

One major concern expressed by several House and Senate intelligence panelists is that, while Negroponte has been putting his team together, Rumsfeld has been expanding intelligence activities.

Pentagon agencies perform almost all of the nation's satellite imagery and electronic intelligence collection and spend 85 percent of the roughly $44 billion intelligence community budget. But most of that money and collection is under Negroponte's authority.

Congressional specialists point to a Nov. 23, 2005, Rumsfeld directive interpreted by some officials as a challenge to Negroponte's authority. It outlined responsibilities for Rumsfeld's undersecretary for intelligence, Stephen A. Cambone.

For example, the law gave the intelligence director authority to transfer and assign up to 100 Pentagon personnel for duties in other agencies. Rumsfeld's directive said that Cambone's "concurrence" would be needed before any transfers.

The directive also said that when it comes to "authority, direction and control" over Pentagon agencies, such as the National Security Agency, Cambone exercises authority "in consultation with the DNI," not apparently at the director's behest.

"These ambiguities need to be straightened out by Negroponte," one senior legislator said.

Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House panel, called Negroponte, a former U.S. envoy to the United Nations and to Iraq, a "smart diplomat" who "needs to stop being an ambassador."

"Congress rejected the model of a passive DNI; we gave him budget authority and a charge to change the culture and reinvent our intelligence capabilities," Harman said.

Hoekstra said the Pentagon "is doing what they need to do in intelligence . . . identifying what combatant commanders may need for the future and building an organization to get them there."

Negroponte, he added, "needs to do the same thing . . . put in place what intelligence is required to meet the needs of his customers and define what he needs to get there."