ODNI completes transformation effort

On July 25, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stood up a new organizational structure based on the Transformation plan that Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon announced in March 2018.

The ODNI’s Transformation reflects the changing nature of the environment and threats to the Nation, and will ensure that the ODNI and the IC will continue to be the best intelligence service in the world, in support of policy-makers and national security. The ODNI must be postured to lead the IC in tackling issues like finding and retaining the right, trusted and agile workforce; rationalizing how the IC manages data and information securely; improving acquisition agility across the entire Community; augmenting intelligence using machines; partnering smartly with the private sector; and developing a comprehensive posture for cyber. These are issues that no one IC element can solve alone and are critical to the IC’s ability to continue to provide timely, relevant and accurate intelligence and information to policy-makers.

The ODNI Transformation also allows for better integration of the ODNI’s mission-focused centers to provide whole-of-IC insight on key issues like cybersecurity, terrorism, and insider threats to ensure a coordinated approach in partnership with the new directorates, and to be key players in the ODNI’s new governance structure and development of  its workforce.

The Transformation includes a revised mission and vision statement and new core values for the ODNI (below), streamlined processes, and a new governance structure that will enable the ODNI to be more agile and drive the highest priority issues.

• Mission: Lead and support Intelligence Community integration; delivering insights, driving capabilities, and investing in the future
• Vision: Decisive national security advantage through agile leadership of the Intelligence Community
• Core Values: Excellence, Courage, Respect, and Integrity

In addition, the ODNI has re-envisioned the agency’s leadership development model to ensure the ODNI’s leaders and workforce have the tools and resources necessary to drive a more strategic, responsive, and accountable organization better positioned to lead Intelligence Community priorities.

The Transformation includes a restructure with four new directorates, led by Deputy Directors of National Intelligence. These directorates support four key functions: integrating intelligence, enabling national security partnerships, driving resources and capability decisions, and aligning the IC’s current focus with our future strategy.

“Our comprehensive approach to Transformation covered many areas, including synchronizing and streamlining processes, better developing our people, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our decisions, and aligning our structure to support those outcomes,” DNI Coats said. He added, “We are proud of the work done by so many to get us to this point.”

Over a short 100 days, ODNI conducted the hard work necessary to orchestrate the restructuring and implement the new processes and governance structures, which all take effect on July 25.

“We’ve never been as good as we are now, but we have to be better,” said PDDNI Gordon. “The goal of the Transformation is to shape an ODNI that the founders envisioned, that the Intelligence Community needs, and that the moment demands.”

Source: ODNI