World

White House Backs CIA Over DNI in Turf Battles

by snuffysmith | November 13, 2009 at 09:45 am

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The CIA has won its first turf battle in the who is in charge of this Nation's intelligence game in Washington DC. Its the first in a long time. As ABC News reports, the White House has made the deicsion that the CIA station chiefs will be the sole DNI representative in US embassies overseas. That arrangement precludes any confusion over who speaks for U.S. intelligence abroad. "Our ambassadors know, and our partners know. They have a single point of contact. It’s a clear, logical outcome.”

The issue was a "hot potato," one official said, since no one in the Obama administration seemed to want to offend either Panetta or Blair. National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones (Ret.) was unable to resolve the disagreement. Vice President Biden was unable to resolve the disagreement. The decision then went back to Jones. This issue became a proxy for other issues involving who was the head of the intelligence community.

The CIA may have won this battle but the war with DNI and DOD continues.