IC Workforce & Organization — 2026-09-14

Former NSA and CIA Leaders Warn Partisan Disputes and AI Threats Challenge IC 25 Years After 9/11

BLUFShrinking ODNI while letting CFATS screening lapse dismantles post-9/11 coordination mechanisms precisely as the threat picture shifts toward nation-state and AI challenges requiring stronger interagency integration.

Former CIA acting director Michael Morell told Nextgov/FCW that the US is "much safer" from terrorism than on September 10, 2001, but said nation-state threats from China and Russia are now the most significant since the Cold War 12. Former NSA deputy director Rick Ledgett said the agency transferred 3,000 analysts to counterterrorism work within a month of the attacks, and separately defended post-9/11 surveillance as "legal and authorized" while acknowledging poor public communication 12. Former DNI James Clapper said intelligence coordination requires a "full-time champion" with real authority; the Trump administration has moved to shrink ODNI's workforce and consolidate its functions on grounds the office is bloated 12. A September 8 GAO report found the 2023 expiration of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program ended continuous terrorist-watchlist screening of roughly 500,000 people tied to about 3,200 high-risk chemical facilities 23.

Analysis
The lapsed Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program leaves roughly 500,000 people tied to 3,200 high-risk chemical sites outside continuous terrorist-watchlist screening until Congress reauthorizes or replaces it, with no legislative vehicle yet in sight. Former officials' calls for a full-time coordination "champion" cut against the administration's move to shrink ODNI's workforce and consolidate its functions, leaving the office least equipped to absorb that role. The downsizing may instead reflect a genuine push to eliminate duplicative functions rather than a rejection of centralized coordination. That contraction pushes interagency integration back toward informal relationships between agency heads rather than institutional authority, even as officials describe AI-enabled hacking and nation-state espionage as harder to counter than the terrorism threat the post-9/11 architecture was built for. Sourcing traces to a single Nextgov/FCW investigation republished across outlets, so their agreement reflects syndication rather than independent corroboration.

3 sources

25 years after 9/11, spy agencies face old lessons and new threats - Nextgov/FCW
25 years after 9/11, spy agencies face old lessons and new threats - Government Executive
25 years after 9/11, spy agencies face old lessons and new threats - Defense One