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Obama’s intelligence chief Blair to resign

21 May 2010 03:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said tonight he is resigning, completing a tenure that included criticism related to the Fort Hood shooting, the Christmas Day bombing attempt by Farouk Abdulmuttalab, and the failed Times Square car bombing, APA reports usatoday.com website.
"It is with deep regret that I informed the president today that I will step down as Director of National Intelligence effective Friday, May 28th," Blair said in a statement. "I have had no greater honor or pleasure than to lead the remarkably talented and patriotic men and women of the Intelligence Community."
ABC News, which broke the story, detailed some of the criticism of Blair, who is a retired Navy admiral:
Just this week -- after a scathing report on intelligence failures and Abdulmuttalab by the Senate Intelligence Committee -- Blair acknowledged in a statement that ’institutional and technological barriers remain that prevent seamless sharing of information.’
The Senate Committee report was a strong message of disapproval of the job being done by Blair and the National Counterterrorism Center.
Members of Congress were told about the move Thursday, said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., a top member of the House Intelligence Committee.
Blair devoted most of his statement to colleagues in the intelligence community:
Every day, you have worked tirelessly to provide intelligence support for two wars and to prevent an attack on our homeland.
You are true heroes, just like the members of the Armed Forces, firefighters, and police whose job it is to keep our nation safe.
Your work over the past 16 months has made the Intelligence Community more integrated, agile, and representative of American values. Keep it up -- I will be cheering for you.