A REORGANIZATION OF DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE

The Department of Defense has embarked on a significant modification of
its intelligence apparatus, creating a new human intelligence center
within the DIA, abolishing a controversial counterintelligence agency,
and reorganizing the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for
Intelligence.

A new Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center (DCHC)
is being established at the Defense Intelligence Agency to manage,
develop and execute DoD counterintelligence and human intelligence
activities worldwide.

It will take over many of the functions and authorities of the
Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), which drew criticism for its
unauthorized domestic surveillance activities, including the collection
of information on U.S. antiwar groups. CIFA will be terminated
effective August 3.

Unlike CIFA, the new DCHC "shall NOT be designated as a law enforcement
activity and shall not perform any law enforcement functions previously
assigned to DoD CIFA," according to a July 22 memorandum memorializing
the new changes.

However, the DCHC will be responsible for developing an "offensive
counterintelligence operations" (OFCO) capability for the Department of
Defense, which may entail efforts to penetrate, deceive and disable
foreign intelligence activities directed against U.S. forces.

The new organization was described in a July 22 memorandum from the
Deputy Secretary of Defense on "Establishment of the Defense
Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center (DCHC)":

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/dchc.pdf

Meanwhile, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, James R.
Clapper, Jr., has moved to reorganize his office to strengthen HUMINT
and CI "integration and synchronization" and to structure the office
around four functional areas.

That move was first reported last week by Inside the Pentagon, which
interviewed defense intelligence officials on the background and
motivations for the changes, and obtained an internal memorandum
outlining the changes. See "Pentagon Shakes Up Intelligence
Directorate's Organization" by Christopher J. Castelli, July 24:

http://defensenewsstand.com/insider.asp?issue=07242008sp

A copy of the June 18, 2008 memorandum from Under Secretary Clapper on
"Reorganization of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for
Intelligence," obtained by Inside the Pentagon and marked "for official
use only" (not yet "controlled unclassified information") is available
here:

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/usdi061808.pdf

Bush Orders Revamping Of Intelligence Gathering - Joby Warrick, Washington Post

President Bush ordered a major restructuring of the nation's intelligence-gathering community yesterday, approving new guidelines aimed at bolstering the authority of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) as the leader of the nation's 16 spy agencies. The long-awaited overhaul of Executive Order 12333 gives the DNI greater control over spending and priority-setting, and also over contacts with foreign intelligence services -- a responsibility that has traditionally fallen to the CIA, according to a Bush administration document describing the changes. Executive Order 12333, which was originally issued by President Ronald Regan in 1981, established the powers and responsibilities of the major US intelligence services. Administration officials have been quietly negotiating the overhaul for more than a year, seeking to modernize the law to reflect the new role of the DNI as the head of the intelligence community.