Analysis: Interim report on Obama’s intelligence reforms

M.A. Goodman

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
It has been nearly a year since US President Barack Obama initiated his plan to reform the CIA and its tattered relations with the rest of the US intelligence community. How is he doing so far? Not great, says Melvin Goodman, a former CIA analyst, in a well-argued article on the subject. On the one hand, Obama has been successful and “deserves high grades” for addressing the CIA’s renditions, detentions and interrogations programs, argues Goodman. On the other hand, the President has avoided taking a strong leadership role in addressing the major problems of the CIA, including “appoint[ing] leaders willing to address the culture of cover-up that exists at the CIA and to make the necessary strategic changes”. Goodman, who is currently a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, argues that, ultimately, “[u]ntil President Obama is willing to address the militarization and centralization of the intelligence community, he will retain his grade of C+ in managing the community”.