ODNI reforms to disband cyber threat intel unit

The decade-old Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center is on the chopping block as part of cuts at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Under the “ODNI 2.0” reforms advanced by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the CTIIC will be among the offices to be disbanded. ODNI is “integrating core functions and expertise” from the CTIIC and several other offices into ODNI’s Mission Integration and National Intelligence Council, according to a fact sheet detailing the cuts.

Gabbard’s team at ODNI has determined the CTIIC is “redundant” given that “other elements” on the National Intelligence Council already monitor cyber threat intelligence. “Additionally, numerous entities exist in the Executive Branch for the coordination of cyber issues,” the fact sheet argues.

The move to consolidate the cyber threat unit is one small piece of a sweeping move to cut the workforce at ODNI. Gabbard said the move will save $700 million per year.

“Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence, and politicized weaponization of intelligence,” Gabbard said in a statement announcing a more than 40% workforce reduction.

The CTIIC was established in 2015 to fuse information on cyber threats from across the 18 U.S. intelligence components. At the time, some criticized the move for creating more duplication and bureaucracy.

But Michael Daniel, who helped lead the establishment of the CTIIC as White House cyber coordinator during the Obama administration, argues the center offers a unique function.

“When we created CTIIC, it was because my team on the NSC was combining cyber threat intelligence from multiple agencies,” Daniel said in a LinkedIn post. “When we asked a question like ‘who conducted this intrusion,’ we would often get multiple answers from different agencies with differing degrees of confidence.”

Daniel told Federal News Network that the CTIIC is akin to the National Counterterrorism Center in bringing together a wide array of intelligence on a specific issue. He said the CTIIC is instrumental in coordinating intelligence on real-time incidents, such as Russian hacks of dams in NATO countries.

“It was designed to support not just assessments of past incidents, but also support real-time national security activities, such as cyber-enabled disruption campaigns against cybercriminal organizations or foreign intelligence services or diplomatic negotiations with adversaries regarding cybersecurity issues,” Daniel said.

The National Intelligence Council, meanwhile, is focuses on long-term trends, not coordinating day-to-day intelligence reporting, Daniel said.

“It won’t be able to perform the functions that the CTIIC did,” he added. “Or if it does, it won’t have time for its long-term research (and it would need more people focused on cyber). This action continues the trend of weakening U.S. government cyber capabilities and reducing its ability to understand what is happening in cyberspace.”

Gabbard’s ODNI reforms, however, have largely gained the support of key Republican lawmakers. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has introduced legislation to cap the size of ODNI.

“Congress created the ODNI to be a lean organization that used small staffs to coordinate across the Intelligence Community and execute specific, important tasks,” Cotton said in a statement last week. “Today’s announcement is an important step towards returning ODNI to that original size, scope, and mission. And it will help make it a stronger and more effective national security tool for President Trump. I look forwarded to working with Director Gabbard to implement these reforms and provide the ODNI with the legislative relief necessary to ensure our Intelligence Community can focus on its core mission: stealing secrets from our adversaries.”

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), meanwhile, also commended Gabbard’s actions.

“Anyone involved in the IC and intelligence oversight has known for over a decade that the ODNI has been in desperate need of reform to return the agency to its critical national security mission,” Crawford said. “This is an excellent first step in the right direction.”