CIA executive will head new terrorist intelligence center

A career CIA terrorism analyst with a background in Middle Eastern affairs will head the government's new terrorist intelligence center, the White House announced Tuesday.

John Brennan, the current CIA deputy executive director, will take over as director of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center on May 1, when it begins operations. CIA Director George Tenet handpicked Brennan, whom he described in a statement as "an extraordinarily talented and innovative officer."

The new center fuses the FBI's counterterrorism division with the CIA's counterterrorism center. By placing those units under one roof, the administration intends to create a "hub" for all terrorist intelligence analysis in the government. The center is a response to critics who say law enforcement and intelligence agencies have done a poor job understanding the activities and events that lead up to terrorist attacks like those of Sept. 11, 2001, or assaults on U.S. targets abroad.

According to a CIA statement, Brennan joined the CIA in 1980 and has held various senior positions. From 1984 to 1989, he served in "several analytic assignments" in the Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis. Brennan directed analysis at he counterterrorism center from 1990 to 1992 during the first Gulf War. He was also the White House daily intelligence briefer from 1994 to 1995. Brennan then served a year-long stint as Tenet's executive assistant, when Tenet was the deputy director for central intelligence.

In 1996, Brennan left Washington and for the next three years served as a CIA station chief "in a major Middle East capital," the agency said.

Brennan graduated from Fordham University in 1977 with a degree in political science, and studied at the American University of Cairo in Egypt. His graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin included a concentration in Middle Eastern Studies.

The creation of the new intelligence center has piqued the concern of some lawmakers and intelligence experts. They worry about aligning the FBI's domestic counterterrorism mission with the CIA's foreign operations.

The CIA's counterterrorism center employs about 300 analysts, but also supports agents that engage in operations against terrorists and their networks overseas. Those operations sometimes include the capture or killing of suspected terrorists. The president has authorized the counterterrorism center to pursue members of the al Qaeda network anywhere in the world, and to conduct operations against them without his approval.

Many administration observers had expected the Homeland Security Department to become the main center for terrorist analysis and warning of future attacks. However, the department will now play only a limited intelligence role, primarily taking analysis from the new center and using it to shore up defenses around critical infrastructures, such as power plants, dams and nuclear reactors.