WASHINGTON — The appearing intelligence chief introduced a reorganization of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart on Friday, a part of an effort t
WASHINGTON — The appearing intelligence chief introduced a reorganization of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart on Friday, a part of an effort to scale back the dimensions of the workplace overseeing the nation’s spy businesses.
The cuts to the counterterrorism center were far more moderate than some expected, according to current and former intelligence officials. Many of the reductions will be done by eliminating vacant positions; others will be done by attrition and by sending officers back to their home agencies. In all, the cuts will amount to about 15 percent of the center’s work force, an official said. The precise size of the agency is classified.
Officials said there will be no layoffs as a result of the cuts, and the end result will be more intelligence officers returning to work at their home agencies. The individual parts of the intelligence community — like the C.I.A., the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency — are best positioned to assign their people to emerging problems, intelligence officials said.
“We are facing a time in our nation’s history where the threat picture is far broader than terrorism, and the I.C. needs to shift resources to address a wide range of complex, sophisticated adversaries,” said Lora Shiao, the newly appointed acting director of the center, using an acronym for the intelligence community.
Congressional Democrats were upset that they were not consulted before the changes. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said they would have to examine the details of the reorganization to “evaluate the wisdom of these cuts.”
The National Counterterrorism Center “plays a critical role in fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe,” Mr. Warner said, adding that “we need to make sure that it continues to work as Congress intended, regardless of what the acting D.N.I. decides to do while he’s temporarily in the job.”
The creation of the counterterrorism center has been one of the success stories of the government’s overhauls after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, collecting and fusing information from across many government agencies. Ensuring that personnel cuts and the reorganization do not curb the center’s ability to detect and counter threats will be critical for the new leadership team, former officials said.
Although terrorism remains a real threat, it is less significant than it was a decade ago, officials said. Some of the resources allocated to the counterterrorism center would be better used to collect intelligence on China or other threats to the United States, former officials said.
“These moves are likely designed to reorient the center to future threats while also eliminating some redundancies in its mission,” said Javed Ali, a former senior counterterrorism center official who is now a visiting professor at the University of Michigan. “These resources could then be repurposed to focus other key priorities within O.D.N.I., like great power competition, cybersecurity or infectious diseases.”
Ms. Shiao, a career American intelligence officer whom Mr. Grenell appointed the counterterrorism center’s acting director last month, pushed against wider cuts. Ms. Shiao, who was the center’s third-ranking official, replaced Russell Travers, who was abruptly removed in March amid planned cutbacks by Mr. Grenell.
Ms. Shiao and Mr. Grenell devised a compromise plan, mostly focused on eliminating jobs that were already unfilled.
Some Democrats had complained that F.B.I. security briefings have been inadequate, and privately expressed hope that Mr. Evanina’s appointment would make the future sessions more robust.
Mr. Evanina will continue to work with the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security to develop the intelligence assessments of “potential malicious influence,” according to the national intelligence office.
The Friday announcement came after a series of other moves announced by Mr. Grenell in recent days. He has elevated the role of a three-star general assigned to the director’s office to make that person a senior adviser to the director. He also created a senior cyberexecutive.
Mr. Grenell has come under intense criticism by Democrats and some former officials for politicizing the intelligence community. He has angered some former officials by ushering out Mr. Travers and Deirdre Walsh, who was the chief operating officer of the national intelligence office.
But Mr. Grenell has been more judicious in who he has appointed to fill empty slots, tapping career officials with deep experience. His overhaul of his office has also avoided across-the-board cuts that some former officials feared were coming.
Mr. Grenell was made the acting director with a mandate to make changes. He has said he did not take the job with the intention of being a seat warmer, and immediately began examining existing plans to shrink the office, which was created after 9/11 to better coordinate intelligence.
But he has had a short timeline with which to make changes.
Mr. Trump has nominated Representative John Ratcliffe, Republican of Texas, to take over as the director of national intelligence. Although Mr. Ratcliffe’s name was withdrawn from consideration after Mr. Trump first floated him last year, Senate Republicans now seem largely united behind him. He is likely to be confirmed soon.
For the counterterrorism center, Mr. Trump tapped Christopher C. Miller, a former National Security Council aide now working at the Pentagon, as his permanent choice for the top counterterrorism job, but it could take several more weeks for the Senate to confirm him.