Obama To Replace Intelligence Chief Dennis Blair
Lauren Victoria Burke/AP
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, seen here in 2009, could resign as early as Friday.
Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, is resigning after a series of high-profile clashes with the CIA and a damaging report from Congress on intelligence failures, three sources told NPR News.
No official confirmation has emerged from the White House, but one U.S. official said an announcement could come Friday.
Blair, a retired admiral, has had troubled relations with CIA Director Leon Panetta about who has authority over U.S. intelligence operations. The two butted heads over the appointment of a CIA station chief, a battle Panetta ultimately won.
There's no word on who would replace Blair. The administration already has "been interviewing several strong candidates to be his replacement," the U.S. official said Thursday.
Congress created the DNI in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, expressly to help the intelligence community better share and analyze information about terrorist threats.
Word of Blair's departure comes the same week that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued a report that sharply criticized the Obama administration for intelligence lapses surrounding the botched Christmas Day bombing.
The report, signed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO), cited 14 failures to connect the dots within U.S. intelligence circles. Some of the information would have prevented Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, from boarding an airplane bound for Detroit with explosives in his underwear, the lawmakers said.
Abdulmutallab was taken into custody and is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors. President Obama has said the episode could have cost the lives of 300 passengers and crew.
Blair told the Senate Homeland Security Committee in February that the administration should have sent a High Value Detainee Interrogation Group unit to Detroit to question Abdulmutallab. But at the time of his remarks, the group was not yet in operation -– the White House had not signed off on its charter.
Later that day, Blair issued a statement saying his remarks had been "misconstrued."
NPR's Tom Gjelten contributed to this report
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