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, 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.
Many believe that addressing these problems head on would require legislation, and no doubt a significant push from the White House. This is unlikely, given that Obama administration officials have shown little interest in strengthening the position. During the hearing, Clapper told lawmakers he would try to make the current structure work and “push the envelope” of the intelligence post’s moral authority.
Over two hours of questioning, the Senate Intelligence Committee asked Clapper almost no questions about al-Qaeda, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan or other pressing national security threats.
The rapid expansion of the intelligence bureaucracy has been under particular scrutiny this week, with a series of articles in The Washington Post detailing the growth in spending on spy programs since the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Post series was the source of a number of questions from senators about how Clapper would address bureaucratic redundancies in the intelligence world and wean agencies off their reliance on contractors.
Clapper, while defending the work of contractors, said he would like to scale back their use, although he refused to give a target for such a reduction.
He did acknowledge that the director’s staff, which has grown to more than 1,500 since the position was created in 2005, was too unwieldy. He vowed that if confirmed by the Senate, he would cut the size of the intelligence director’s office.
Clapper is expected to be swiftly confirmed by the Senate.
