July 11, 2006

With the transfer of responsibility for the Intelligence Community as a whole to the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA has for the first time in its history a Director and Deputy Director focused exclusively on the mission of the Agency. That positive change makes obsolete the old division of labor under which the Executive Director supervised the bulk of the Agency’s day-to-day operations.

For that reason, I am replacing the post of Executive Director with a new position, Associate Deputy Director. More than a new name, the Associate Deputy Director reflects a new reality: CIA’s top leadership now has the freedom—the opportunity—to devote itself fully and completely to charting the present and future of our Agency. The Director, Deputy Director, and Associate Deputy Director will work very closely together.

I am proud to announce the appointment of Michael J. Morell to be our first Associate Deputy Director. I have asked Mike to take a fresh look at the offices that now report to him and those that report to me, and to determine if we need to change any of those reporting relationships. His study, slated for completion in 60 days, will center not on the individual directorates, but on the way the Office of the Director itself manages and guides the Agency.

Throughout his career, Mike has shown the insight, dedication, creativity, and sheer talent that the job of Associate Deputy Director will demand. Having joined the Agency in 1980, Mike proved to be an outstanding analyst and leader of analysts, heading a regional office in the Directorate of Intelligence and the unit that produces the President’s Daily Brief. He has also served with distinction as a Presidential briefer, Executive Assistant to Director Tenet, Associate Deputy Director of Intelligence for Strategic Programs. Mike was most recently Deputy Director for Intelligence at the National Counter-Terrorism Center.