As the White House keeps roiling the topmost organization in the American espionage hierarchy, questions have resurfaced that are as old — 25 years — as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence itself.
Do we need it all, or could we get rid of it? Should it be large or small? Should it be superior or auxiliary to the 18 other spy agencies of the United States? And how exactly can we assure that any Director of National Intelligence doesn’t deploy the office’s prodigious snooping powers to play politics instead of saving American lives by foreseeing the next national-security disaster?
