Citing an array of new cyber, conventional, and terrorist threats, Brennan announced the most sweeping reforms of the CIA in its 69-year history 18 months ago. Weakening the role of the Directorate of Operations, the agency’s long-dominant arm responsible for gathering intelligence and conducting covert operations, Brennan created 10 new “mission centers” where CIA spies, analysts, and hackers work in teams focused on specific issues. He also created a new Directorate for Digital Innovation to maximize the agency’s use of technology, data analytics, and online spying.

The information age “has totally transformed the way we are able to operate and need to operate,” Brennan said in a series of interviews. “Most human interactions take place in that digital domain. So the intelligence profession needs to flourish in that domain. It cannot avoid it.”

When a new American diplomat arrives for duty at the U.S. embassy in Moscow or Beijing, CIA officials say, Russian and Chinese intelligence operatives run data analytics programs that check the “digital dust” associated with his or her name. If the newcomer’s footprint in that dust—social-media posts, cell phone calls, debit card payments—is too small, the “diplomat” is flagged as an undercover CIA officer.

The Russian-backed campaign to discredit the U.S. election is not isolated. Hackers believed to have links to Chinese intelligence began stealing the personnel records of 21.5 million federal employees and job applicants in 2014, the worst known data breach in U.S. government history. Islamic State propagandists online continue to inspire lone-wolf attacks in the United States even as the group loses territory.

James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, praised Brennan and his efforts to retool the CIA for this new digital era in an interview. So did Lisa Monaco, Brennan’s successor as Obama’s homeland security and counterterrorism adviser.

But some current and former officials question Brennan’s strategy, arguing his reforms are too digitally focused and will create a more cautious, top-heavy spy agency. At a time when the agency needs to refocus its efforts on human espionage, they say, the concentration of power in the new mission centers weakens the ability of the Directorate of Operations to produce a new generation of elite American spies.

Glenn Carle, a former CIA covert officer, praised Brennan and his reforms but said they have sparked a mixed reaction among Directorate of Operations officials who believe human intelligence is getting short shrift. “The value the CIA can fundamentally add is to steal secrets, and the ultimate secret is intention,” Carle said, referring to the often inscrutable aims of foreign leaders. “Obtaining that is a human endeavor.”

Reuters

At the same time, Brennan has stirred a different sort of criticism—that he has defied congressional oversight. Liberal Democrats and libertarian Republicans in Congress say the Brennan-Obama tenure has been tarnished by a lack of transparency with congressional oversight committees and the public regarding surveillance, drone strikes, and the agency’s use of torture against terrorism suspects during the administration of George W. Bush.