Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has introduced legislation to overhaul the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), reduce its size, and refocus its role within the U.S. intelligence community.
The Intelligence Community Efficiency and Effectiveness Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho; Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Ted Budd, R-N.C.; and James Lankford, R-Okla., proposes a significant restructuring of ODNI to “return [the agency] to its original mission.”
If passed, the bill would limit ODNI’s full-time staff to 650 – down from its current workforce of roughly 1,600. While Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has already overseen a 20 percent staff reduction from a peak of nearly 2,000 employees as part of the Trump administration’s broader push to shrink the Federal workforce.
In a statement DNI Gabbard told MeriTalk, ODNI is working diligently to “identify inefficiencies across the intelligence community, confront and address deep-rooted failures, and enact serious reforms that will refocus ODNI and the IC on our core mission of protecting the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.”
Cotton’s legislation would go further by cutting additional positions and dismantling several major ODNI components.
“ODNI was intended to be a lean organization to align America’s intelligence resources and authorities, not the overstaffed and bureaucratic behemoth that it is today, where coordinators coordinate with other coordinators,” Cotton said in a statement. “These reforms will be vital to keeping our country safe from the wide range of threats that we continue to face.”
The proposed legislation also calls for the elimination of several ODNI entities, including the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and the National Intelligence University. It would also transfer the National Counterterrorism Center to the FBI and move the center on proliferation and biosecurity to the CIA.
The ODNI’s National Intelligence Council, which currently produces strategic intelligence assessments, would no longer draft reports but instead coordinate analysis conducted by other agencies.
Additionally, the bill would dismantle ODNI-run centers focused on specific subject areas, including the Climate Security Advisory Council and the Foreign Malign Influence Center, the latter of which has played a key role in monitoring election interference and foreign disinformation campaigns.
While lawmakers across the political spectrum have previously expressed support for reforming the ODNI, it remains uncertain whether Cotton’s proposal will gather sufficient backing in Congress – or if it will be endorsed by the Trump administration.