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of the administration. Indeed, DCIs who have found themselves at odds with administration policy end up being ignored. But if a DNI feels strongly about some proposal, then the DNI is going to do more than explain why it is necessary. The DNI is likely to advocate for or against a proposal, depending on the issue. This already occurs in certain areas, such as the budget. DCIs and DNIs do not just present a budget to Congress. They advocate overall amounts and argue for or against specific programs. The fact that the DNI has control over few analytical components (essentially the NIC and the NCTC) means that the DNI, or the DNI staff, will have to spend a great deal of time trying to keep track of analytic activities across the sixteen intelligence agencies. It also means that the DNI will have a relatively weak institutional base. Several of the heads of intelligence agencies will be rivals for the DNI as they will have greater insight into and control over activities that are of concern to policy makers. It also places the DNI in a somewhat anomalous position. The DNI is the senior intelligence adviser to the president but is relying on analysis controlled and produced by subordinates, given the DNI controls so few analysts.

To make the appointment a more professional and less political one, suggestions were made in the past that the DCI, like the director of the FBI, be subject to a fixed term of office. (The FBI director serves for ten years.) Politicization of intelligence appointments was possible in the past but did not become a reality until 1977, when incoming president Jimmy Carter asked for the resignation of DCI George Bush (1976-1977). Bush became the first DCI who was asked to resign because of a change in the party controlling the White House. This partisan turnover then became the practice for DCIs when partisan control of the White House shifted, until President George W. Bush asked DCI Tenet to stay on in 2001.

Another argument in favor of a tixed term is that it would allow DCls to serve under presidents who had not appointed them, thus increasing the chances for objectivity. The main argument against it, and one that was voiced by several former DCIs, goes back to the personal nature of the relationship between the DCI and the president. The concern is that, under a fixed DCI term that overlaps the cycle of elections, the president would inherit a DCI not of his or her choosing and with whom there would be no rapport, thus increasing the likelihood that the DCI’s access would diminish. Moreover, the DCI and the director of the FBI did not hold comparable positions, a disparity that continued under the DNI. The DNI is responsible for the entire intelligence community, whereas the director of the FBI runs an agency within an executive department (Justice). The strained relations between FBI director Louis J. Freeh and both Attorney General Janet Reno and President Clinton during the latter part of the Clinton administration underscore the problems that can arise with a fixed term. The 2004 intelligence act did not set a fixed term for the DNI, who continues to serve at the pleasure of the president. The selection of Ambassador Negroponte as the first DNI also established the precedent that the DNI need not be a professional intelligence officer. This was also true of the DCI position. Of the nineteen DCIs, three were career intelligence officers: Richard Helms (1966-1973); William Colby (1973-1976); and Robert Gates (1991-1993). A fourth, Allen Dulles (1953-1961), had wartime intelligence experience in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

The relationship of the DNI with the CIA remains crucial. The CIA has lost status within the intelligence community in recent years. However, it has retained several key roles, including all-source analysis, HUMINT, intelligence operations, and foreign liaison. Former DCIs William H. Webster (1987-1991) and Tenet argued that the DNI cannot be effective without control over these activities, but those in favor of the new law were adamant about keeping the DNI separate