On Tuesday, February 18, 2014, Michael Allen discussed his new book, Blinking Red: Crisis and Compromise in American Intelligence after 9/11, which is about the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004, the first most substantial revision pertaining to the intelligence community since the National Security Act of 1947.
The 9/11 Commission decided that the intelligence community management functions needed to be separated from the CIA, and Mr. Allen discussed the different opinions on their recommendations that existed around Washington. He discussed briefly the implementation of the Act, and posed the question of whether the 9/11 Commission succeeded in creating a “quarterback” who can direct the different parts of the IC or did it created an office that is merely an unnecessary of bureaucracy.