After a string of intelligence failures, US spy czar Dennis Blair announced his resignation, ending a 16-month tenure marred by rumblings of infighting in the US clandestine services.
Blair, who announced on Thursday that he was quitting as director of national intelligence, will be the most high-profile figure yet to leave President Barack Obama’s national security team.
He faced heavy criticism after the attempt by an al-Qaeda linked group to bring down a US airliner on Dec. 25 last year. Some of the 16 US intelligence agencies he coordinates also came under fire over the mass shooting at Fort Hood in November last year and the attempted Times Square bombing this month.
Some Republicans charged that Blair had been made a scapegoat for wider flaws in intelligence by the administration and used the shake-up to criticize the White house over national security.
“It is with deep regret that I informed the president today that I will step down as director of national intelligence effective Friday, May 28th ... I have had no greater honor or pleasure than to lead the remarkably talented and patriotic men and women of the intelligence community,” Blair, a retired admiral, said in a statement.
“Every day, you have worked tirelessly to provide intelligence support for two wars and to prevent an attack on our homeland,” he said.
Obama paid tribute in a statement to Blair’s “remarkable record of service” and said he had “performed admirably and effectively” as director of National Intelligence.
“Over the course of many decades, Admiral Blair has served with great integrity, intellect and commitment to our country and the values that we hold dear,” he said, noting “his sense of purpose and patriotism.”
A US official said on condition of anonymity that Obama had already interviewed several “strong” candidates to replace Blair as director of national intelligence, a post set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to plug intelligence gaps.
In the months prior to Blair’s departure there were rumors that he was losing the confidence of the White House.
Just this week, Obama dispatched CIA Director Leon Panetta and National Security Advisor James Jones to Pakistan, to discuss anti-terror cooperation and intelligence following the failed Times Square attack.
Blair did not make the trip.
In recent months, there have been leaked accounts in the US media of turf wars and clashes between rival centers of power in the intelligence world — especially between Panetta and Blair.
Obama has also leaned heavily on his top White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan, who has often been the public face of White House efforts to keep Americans safe and head off future terror attacks.
Blair’s departure comes just days after the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued a damning report on failures leading up to the attempt to blow up a Northwest jet over Detroit on Dec. 25 last year. A Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is being held for that attack.
In an unclassified summary of its investigation, the committee said “systemic failures” opened the way for the 23-year-old accused plotter, who allegedly had explosives sewn into his underwear and has been linked to al-Qaeda.
The committee noted failures to revoke Abdulmutallab’s visa, place him on the “no-fly list,” connect and correlate different pieces of information, as well as the CIA’s failure to share information about suspicions he was plotting an attack.
The intelligence director has also come under fire for failing to piece together tell-tale signs ahead of last year’s Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood army base in Texas.
An army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Hasan, has been charged with carrying out the killing of 12 soldiers and one civilian.
Both Hasan and Abdulmutallab were believed to be inspired by a radical US-born Islamic cleric now in Yemen.
Republican lawmakers assailed Obama’s handling of intelligence matters as they heard of Blair’s departure.
Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said the resignation was a “disturbing sign” and accused Obama of “micromanagment” of intelligence and “rampant politicization of national security.”
Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he was “sorry” to learn of Blair’s resignation.
“I look forward to talking with the admiral to understand why he is leaving his office now,” Lieberman said.
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