CIA's foreign work faces new scrutiny

Washington: Sensitive CIA operations overseas will face new scrutiny from the nation's intelligence director under a plan approved by the White House and outlined in a memo to the espionage workforce last week.

The move marks an attempt by Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dennis C. Blair to assert greater authority over clandestine operations at a time of mounting bureaucratic frictions between the CIA and Blair's office.

Among the activities that could be evaluated are the CIA's campaign of Predator missile strikes against militant targets in Pakistan, as well as secret paramilitary and spying operations in other countries.

In a memo sent to subordinates on Friday, Blair cited new guidance from the White House that his responsibilities "include assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of sensitive operations".

The majority of those, he said, "are conducted by the CIA". But in a sign of the ongoing skirmishing in the intelligence community, other officials dismissed Blair's memo and said the CIA's covert action authorities remain intact.

"Covert action is ordered by the President and carried out by the CIA," said a US intelligence official. "That relationship, which involves a single, direct line of command and communication between the White House and the agency, isn't changing."

Indeed, officials said Blair had sought to change the chain of command, putting his office more directly in charge of clandestine operations, but that the White House rejected the proposal. As a fallback, officials said, Blair was now asserting the right to review CIA missions.

The CIA has come under severe criticism for operations ranging from its network of secret prisons to the use of controversial interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects.

DNI oversight of covert operations could be useful, helping to ensure that CIA activities are effective and serving US interests, said Mark Lowenthal, a former senior CIA official.

"The potential problem is if it's done heavy-handed and he starts using this as a way to run operations," Lowenthal said. "Then you're going to just have another food fight and the DNI is probably going to lose."

Battle for control

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair's memo appeared to be issued in response to news last week that he had lost a long-running bureaucratic battle with CIA Director Leon E. Panetta over who has the authority to select the top US spy representative overseas.

After months of wrangling, and the intervention of Vice-President Joseph Biden, the White House opted to preserve an arrangement in which those positions are held by CIA officers.