Intel Intel

Former FBI Deputy Director Robert Bryant has been selected to be the next National Counterintelligence Executive, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair announced today. In his new job, Bryant will serve as the head of national counterintelligence for the United States government.

In his announcement, Blair said:

The Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX) sets the priorities for counterintelligence collection, investigations, and operations, and conducts in-depth espionage damage assessments. To ensure the effectiveness of these programs, ONCIX also performs periodic reviews of all U.S. Counterintelligence programs, evaluates them against strategic and budgetary goals, and makes fiscal recommendations to the DNI.

In the recently published 2009 National Intelligence Strategy, counterintelligence is elevated for the first time as a mission objective. “Integrate Counterintelligence” is one of six mission objectives, and the strategy calls for a counterintelligence capability that is integrated with all aspects of the intelligence process, both offensively and defensively, to protect our secrets, and to better serve the policymaker and the operator.

During his FBI years, Bryant investigated and prosecuted the spies Aldrich Ames, Earl Pitts and Harold Nicholson. He also was in charge of the investigations following the Oklahoma City bombing and the bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. He was most recently the president and chief executive officer of the National Insurance Crime Bureau.