Intelligence Briefs

Interesting tidbits from TIME's profile of Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte:

  • DNI officials say a new "open source" center near Reston, Va., where analysts sift through publicly available information, is working well. For example, open source analysts recently detected what Deputy DNI Michael Hayden called a "shift in the themes that have been appearing on Jihadist web sites."
  • Negroponte has hired an ombudsman to hear complaints from intelligence officers when their views are ignored or underemphasized. And reviews of mistakes are launched immediately.
  • Negroponte said the FBI is "moving toward the idea of having officers writing up reports for their intelligence value, not only to make cases," but FBI agents are "probably not doing it as much as they could."
  • Here's the magazine's description of the DNI's offices: "The DNI suite looks nothing like the sleek and spacious workspaces of TV's "24" -- the Hollywood version of U.S. terror-hunting headquarters. Instead, it's a warren of pathetic-looking workspaces in a 40-year-old building around the corner from the White House. The rooms are dingy, stuffy and overcrowded."

NEXT STORY: FBI's Case Shift