wound through the congressional process in the fall of 2004 but
bogged down in conference committee. Ensuing recalcitrance by
congressional defenders of the Department of Defense’s(DOD’s)
intelligence prerogatives produced a compromise that made the DNI
substantially weaker than that sought by the 9/11 Commission report.
For example, under the new law, the DNI will have a say in hiring
the heads of the intelligence agencies but will have no authority to
fire them. The DNI can move money from one agency to another to
meet needs, but always within strict limits. Under the law, the DNI
has only limited authority to reprogram funds and transfer personnel
from the Defense Department, while the department still keeps con-
trol over its massive intelligence agencies as well as 30 percent of in-
telligence moneys. While the legislation puts the new national intel-
ligence chief in the position of commanding the attention of agency
heads—the DNI, under the law, is supposed to develop and determine
their budgets, although he is only empowered to monitor the imple-
mentation and execution of intelligence spending—greater intelli-
gence coherence and effectiveness certainly are not assured by this
legislation.Instead, the new position constitutes an additional bu-
reaucratic layer, now separating the titular head of U.S. intelligence
from collectors and analysts who reside within the agencies. The di-
rector of central intelligence(DCI) remains the head of the Central
Intelligence Agency(CIA).DISINFORMATION.SeePROPAGANDA.DONOVAN, WILLIAM JOSEPH (1883–1959).William Donovan
was the legendary chief of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
during World War II. Donovan had been a New York City lawyer
and a classmate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who appointed
Donovan as coordinator of information (COI) in 1941 and, subse-
quently, as OSS chief in 1942.
Donovan made a name for himself as early as 1912 when he formed
and led a troop of cavalry of the New York State Militia (a forerunner
of the National Guard) that in 1916 served on the Mexican border in
the Pancho Villa campaign. During World War I, he distinguished
himself on the battlefield in France, and by the end of the war, he had
received three Purple Hearts and the Distinguished Service Cross.DONOVAN, WILLIAM JOSEPH•5905-398 (2) Dictionary.qxd 10/20/05 6:27 AM Page 59