Director of National Intelligence DNI

Congress created the position in December 2004 on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, separating leadership of the whole intelligence community from leadership of the CIA, which the Director of Central Intelligence had combined since 1947. The DNI is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate after hearings before the Intelligence Committee. By law the DNI may not simultaneously serve as head of any intelligence agency. John Negroponte was the first, taking office in April 2005.

The DNI serves as principal adviser to the President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council on intelligence. The DNI oversees production of the President's Daily Brief, manages and presents the National Intelligence Program budget, sets collection and analysis priorities across the eighteen intelligence elements, and controls access to classified information through security clearance policy. The DNI also issues the annual threat assessment that is presented publicly to Congress each year.

Critics have argued since the post's creation that the DNI was given responsibility without authority, since most intelligence agencies belong to cabinet departments whose secretaries control their day-to-day work. Directors have varied widely in influence. In 2025 Tulsi Gabbard used the office to shrink the ODNI staff sharply, revoke clearances of former officials, and declassify records on several politically charged subjects, moves supporters described as accountability and critics as politicization of intelligence.