WASHINGTON — Telling a Senate panel that he would not be a “hood ornament,” the Obama administration’s candidate to become national intelligence director pledged Tuesday that despite the job’s vague authority, he would try to bring an end to turf battles and bureaucratic bloat in America’s spy agencies.
But the nominee, James R. Clapper Jr., also defended the extensive use of government contractors to perform intelligence work, comparing the growth of private companies working for spy agencies since the Sept. 11 attacks to the industrial buildup that took place during World War II.
If confirmed, Mr. Clapper will be the fourth person in five years to hold the post, a job that most intelligence experts believe lacks any real authority to wrestle with 16 disparate intelligence agencies and effectively combat waste and abuse.
Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/us/politics/21intel.html?_r=1&ref=politics