Mike McConnell (U.S. Naval officer)

DNI Seal

Two months after taking office, McConnell created a series of initiatives designed to build the foundation for increased cooperation and reform of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). His plan, dubbed "100 Day Plan for Integration and Collaboration" focused on efforts to enable the IC to act as a unified enterprise in a collaborative manner.[16] It focused on six enterprise integration priorities:

1. Create a Culture of Collaboration
2. Foster Collection and Analytic Transformation
3. Build Acquisition Excellence and Technology Leadership
4. Modernize Business Practices
5. Accelerate Information Sharing
6. Clarify and Align DNI's Authorities

Subsequently, a 500 Day Plan was designed to sustain the momentum with an expanded set of initiatives and a greater level of participation. It was set to deepen integration of the Community's people, processes, and technologies.[16][17] The plan addressed a new performance management framework that entails six performance elements that all agencies must have.[18]

The 100 Day Plan was meant to "jump start" a series of initiatives based on a deliberate planning process with specific deadlines and measures to ensure that needed reforms were implemented. The 500 Day Plan, which started in August 2007, was designed to accelerate and sustain this momentum with an expanded set of initiatives and broader IC participation. It contains 10 "core" initiatives which will be tracked by the senior leadership in the Intelligence Community, and 33 "enabling" initiatives. The initiatives are based on the same six focus areas described in the 100 Day Plan.

The top initiatives are:

1. Treat Diversity as a Strategic Mission Imperative
2. Implement Civilian IC Joint Duty Program
3. Enhance Information Sharing Policies, Processes, and Procedures
4. Create Collaborative Environment for All Analysts
5. Establish National Intelligence Coordination Center
6. Implement Acquisition Improvement Plan
7. Modernize the Security Clearance Process
8. Align Strategy, Budget, and Capabilities through a Strategic Enterprise Management System
9. Update Policy Documents Clarifying and Aligning IC Authorities

Director McConnell ended office near the 400th day of his 500-day plan.[19]

McConnell approached Congress in early August 2007 on the need to "modernize FISA," claiming two changes were needed (initial efforts began in April – see the factsheet for more). First, the Intelligence Community should not be required, because of technology changes since 1978, to obtain court orders to effectively collect foreign intelligence from "foreign targets" located overseas. He also argued that telecoms being sued for violating the nation's wiretapping laws must be protected from liability—regardless of the veracity of the charges.[20] Shortly thereafter, McConnell took an active role [21] on Capitol Hill for legislation being drafted by Congress. On August 3, McConnell announced that he "strongly oppose[d]" the House's proposal because it wasn't strong enough.[22] After heated debate, Congress updated FISA by passing the Protect America Act of 2007.

On September 10, 2007, testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, McConnell asserted that the recently passed Protect America Act of 2007, which eased restrictions in FISA, had helped foil a major terror plot in Germany. U.S. intelligence-community officials questioned the accuracy of McConnell's testimony and urged his office to correct it, which he did in a statement issued September 12, 2007. Critics cited the incident as an example of the Bush administration's exaggerated claims and contradictory statements about surveillance activities. Counterterrorism officials familiar with the background of McConnell's testimony said they did not believe he made inaccurate statements intentionally as part of any strategy by the administration to persuade Congress to make the new eavesdropping law permanent. Those officials said they believed McConnell gave the wrong answer because he was overwhelmed with information and merely mixed up his facts.[23]

In that same testimony, McConnell blamed the death of a kidnapped American soldier in Iraq on the requirements of FISA and the slowness of the courts. However, a timeline later released showed that the delays were mostly inside the NSA, casting doubt again on McConnell's truthfulness. [24]

McConnell, speaking to a Congressional panel in defense of the Protect America Act, said that the Russian and Chinese foreign intelligence services are nearly as active as during the Cold War.[25] In other September 18, 2007 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, McConnell addressed the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, saying that that agency had conducted no telephone surveillance of Americans without obtaining a warrant in advance since he became Director of National Intelligence in February, 2007.[26] McConnell called FISA a "foundational law" with "important legacy of protecting the rights of Americans," which was passed in the era of Watergate and in the aftermath of the Church and Pike investigations. He stressed that changes should honor that legacy for privacy and against foreign threats.[27]

July 2008, Director McConnell issued a directive (ICD 205) for analysts to build relationships with outside experts on topics of concern to the intelligence community—a recommendation highlighted in the WMD Commission Report.[28]

Director McConnell worked with the White House to overhaul Executive Order 12333, which outlines fundamental guidance to intelligence agencies. McConnell believes the update is necessary to incorporate the intelligence community's new organizations and new technologies and methods. The redo is expected to help the intelligence agencies work together, and to reflect the post 9/11 threat environment.[29][30][31]

In July 2008, President Bush issued Executive Order 13470, which amended 12333.[32]

As one of McConnell's last acts as DNI, he signed ICD501 "Discovery and Dissemination or Retrieval of Information Within the Intelligence Community" to dramatically increase access to several databases held by various agencies in the community. The policy establishes rules to govern disputes when access is not granted, with the DNI as the final adjudicator to resolve disputes between organizations. He also established the Intelligence Information Integration Program (I2P) under the leadership of then-CIO Patrick Gorman and then NSA-CIO Dr. Prescott Winter. The goal of I2P was to create a shared infrastructure and family of shared services as a means to increase information access, sharing and collaboration throughout the US Intelligence Community.[33][34]

McConnell led the effort to create an integrated planning, programming, and budgeting system to more fully integrate and optimize the capabilities of the Intelligence Community. Previously, each agency's budget was developed independently and aggregated for Congress. After the issuance of ICD106 Strategic Enterprise Management (IC SEM), the Intelligence Community budget was more closely aligned to strategic goals and objectives, requirements, and performance criteria. ICD 106 was replaced by ICD 116 in 2011 ().