Formed January 5, 2001 | ||
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Preceding agency National Counterintelligence Center Jurisdiction Counterintelligence on behalf of the Federal Government of the United States Agency executive William Evanina, National Counterintelligence Executive Parent department Director of National Intelligence | ||
The Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX) leads national counterintelligence (CI) for the United States government and serves as the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
Contents
History
The Office was established on January 5, 2001 by a directive from President Bill Clinton which also established the National Counterintelligence Board. It replaced the National Counterintelligence Center, which was created in 1994 in response to the arrest of CIA mole Aldrich Ames.
Role
The ONCIX facilitates and enhances US counterintelligence efforts and awareness by enabling the CI community to better identify, assess, prioritize and counter intelligence threats from foreign powers, terrorist groups, and other non-state entities; ensuring the CI community acts efficiently and effectively; and providing for the integration of all US counterintelligence activities. The Office characterizes its mission as: "Exploit and defeat adversarial intelligence activities directed against American interests; Protect the integrity of the US intelligence system; Provide incisive, actionable intelligence to decisionmakers at all levels; Protect vital national assets from adversarial intelligence activities; Neutralize and exploit adversarial intelligence activities targeting the armed forces."
The National Counterintelligence Executive chairs the National Counterintelligence Policy Board, the principal inter-agency mechanism for developing national CI policies and procedures, and directs the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.
While ONCIX does not distribute warnings of potential threats to the private sector, it works closely with the FBI's Awareness of National Security Issues and Response (ANSIR) program, the State Department's Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) as well as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to ensure that such warnings are timely made. The Office of Counterintelligence of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency maintains a full-time presence within ONCIX.
Leadership
On August 7, 2006, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte appointed Joel F. Brenner to serve as National Counterintelligence Executive and Mission Manager for Counterintelligence.
On September 21, 2009, Robert "Bear" Bryant was appointed as the National Counterintelligence Executive.
In May 2014, DNI James R. Clapper appointed William Evanina, a former FBI special agent with a counter-terrorism specialty, as the new National Counterintelligence Executive.