CIA Director John Brennan has ordered a reorganization of the spy agency that will shift its focus from Bush-era counterterrorism back to its traditional Cold War-era intelligence gathering role, the Seattle Times reports. Thousands of CIA employees will be reassigned and chains of authority will be restructured. One major change is that operatives and analysts will work together more closely to coordinate their functions, partly in response to the failures of Bush’s CIA, which included wrongly concluding Iraq had WMDs and being caught off guard by the Arab Spring revolts. Bush’s emphasis on counterterrorism left intelligence gaps that Brennan wants to plug, and he also wants to increase the CIA’s cyber capabilities. The changes don’t require Congress’ approval and will be made within the CIA’s existing budget.
Photo: Obama’s choice of John Brennan, a CIA career employee who began as an analyst, for CIA Director was controversial because of Brennan’s support of torture while serving under the Bush administration.