Walter Pincus’s report in the Washington Post and Mark Mazzetti’s in the New York Times on the testimony of Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence provide an interesting snapshot of the issues facing the nation’s intelligence coordination center.  The testimony, added to by CIA chief Gen. Michael Hayden, covered everything from the Iranian nuclear threat to Pakistan’s instability to the threat of terrorism (cyberterrorism as well as the better-known kind) in the U.S.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was set up after 9/11 to bring together all strands of America’s intelligence gathering and coordinate the work of all key intelligence agencies.  As Lawrence Wright notes in the New Yorker, this new hierarchy, which proceeded to draw away many career specialists from other agencies, rubbed many senior intelligence officials (particularly at CIA) the wrong way.

Clearly, McConnell and the ODNI — which has is reported to have a budget of at least $1 billion and a staff of over 1500, have both intelligence and management challenges to face.  Let’s take one of America’s most unstable allies, Pakistan, as an example.  In the Senate hearing, McConnell said that Pakistan’s leaders have finally begun to understand that the growth of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in their country is "an existential threat to their very survival."  But to date, Pakistan has shown little willingness to confront its own devils, including the links between government officials and Islamist organizations, judging by Steve Coll’s recent "Letter from Pakistan" in the New Yorker.  

Time is running out on Pakistan, and beyond existential threats, it faces entirely practical ones.  So the question is not what McConnell or CIA director Michael Hayden are saying in open hearings, but what guidance they are giving legislators and the Bush Administration behind closed doors.  Are the resources that have been poured into the ODNI bringing real intelligence results?  America has strong influence in Pakistan, but without good intelligence tools and sources, we’re reduced to trying to buy information in a country where some things are not for sale.   

Ned Hodgman

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