The ODNI has long been a weak agency. It never really fulfilled the mandate that was set out for it two decades ago, when Congress tried to correct the failures that had led to the 9/11 attacks by creating another layer of bureaucracy on top of the already-unwieldy intelligence community. “Gabbard’s tenure has demonstrated just how easily an organization like ODNI that lacks clear mission and impact can become overly politicized and move away from the kind of objectivity and truth-seeking required for good intelligence work and U.S. national security,” William Walldorf, a professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University and a senior fellow at the think tank Defense Priorities, told me.
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