The main challenge ahead is also the reason for having a DNI in the first place – to better manage the entire set of U.S. intelligence agencies so that the nation gets the most for the $43-plus billion it spends each year on intelligence. For Negroponte to deliver the PDB was a bureaucratic victory, but the nation did not need a DNI to deliver the PDB; for that, the prior DCI was fine. Negroponte's relatively brief tenure as DNI was distinguished mostly by bureaucracy-building, thereby reinforcing the argument of the skeptics that the creation of the DNI would only add one more layer of organizational “clutter.” Negroponte conveyed the air of a person who had taken the job out of duty rather than real interest or commitment. He seemed from the start eager to return to his career home, the State Department, and made the move quickly in 2007 when the position of deputy secretary was offered. Indeed, that he was prepared to trade the post of DNI for the number-two job at State was a commentary on the status of the reshaping of intelligence – and not a good one.

Much of the task ahead is implicit in the DNI's mandate to break down the stovepipes, asking how best the United States might get the information it needs. The challenges to existing organizational culture are daunting. The DNI needs to be a major player in programmatic decisions, especially about collection systems, which consume most of intelligence's budgets.