Intelligence Panel Cites Progress and Shortfalls at FBI

A House intelligence subcommittee reported yesterday that FBI agents are beginning to evolve from law enforcement officers into intelligence collectors, but that the bureau still has not revised its guidelines for recruiting, vetting and employing informants in national security cases.

"We understand the [FBI's] National Security Branch is considering how to give its staff latitude to conduct preemptive collection and to hunt for leads that are not necessarily tied to an open case," according to the report released yesterday by the oversight subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

But the panel points out that "the inability to formalize guidelines and standards [in a manual] for Human Source Operations and the Field Intelligence Groups, two important pillars of intelligence reform, is delaying implementation."

In one of its sharpest critiques, the panel said the delay of the manual illustrates "the need for urgency in changing the bureau's culture and revising its investigative techniques," adding that "al Qaeda will not wait for the bureaucracy to spend months arguing over new procedures."

The study was conducted to review the December 2004 intelligence restructuring legislation, which created the post of director of national intelligence (DNI), now held by John D. Negroponte. The legislation gave the DNI the job of leading the revamping of the 16 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community in the aftermath of failures before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and faulty intelligence about former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

"It is a mixed story," the report said. "Some good, needed steps have been taken while other reforms have lagged."

Negroponte drew criticism for "not showing the leadership and degree of change" that some had sought. But he was praised for limiting his role in the preparation of the President's Daily Brief, the top-secret intelligence report prepared for the morning national security briefing of President Bush. Negroponte's predecessor, former representative Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), spent hours as director of central intelligence getting ready for the 30-minute sessions, as did Negroponte, when he first took over.

Now, however, the report noted, Thomas Fingar, the deputy DNI for analysis, manages the process with a staff of 16 that taps the intelligence community for material produced for the president and his top national security team. The report says the delegation of responsibility has given Negroponte more time to function as leader of the intelligence forces.

The report cites "several disappointments" in relations between Negroponte's staff and Congress, including the DNI's failure to consult the committee before Goss resigned and before publication of the National Intelligence Strategy in 2005.

The report criticized all the agencies for insufficient human spying capabilities -- a priority for the House panel for years -- particularly under Goss. Saying it remains, the subcommittee attributed the problems to "poor understanding of the threats and the changing environment." The report determined that "poor program management and planning" has put space imagery satellite capabilities "at risk."

The panel concluded, however, that "we do have a relatively successful counterterrorism capability," which it attributes to "exceptional individuals overcoming organization and planning shortfalls."