Sponsors (4)
The bill strengthens continuity and Senate‑confirmed oversight for the DNI to improve stability and interagency coordination, at the cost of reducing presidential flexibility, potentially narrowing the pool of acting leaders, and inviting legal disputes over eligibility.
Federal agencies, the intelligence community, and military personnel: establishes a clear, Senate‑confirmed line of succession for the Director of National Intelligence, reducing leadership ambiguity and preserving oversight and continuity of intelligence operations during vacancies.
Federal employees and interagency partners: reduces reliance on temporary FVRA appointments, strengthening the perceived authority of acting officials and improving interagency coordination and effectiveness during crises.
Military personnel and national security stakeholders: restricting acting DNI appointments to Senate‑confirmed officials could narrow the candidate pool and result in less experienced or politically constrained officials overseeing intelligence, potentially degrading decision quality.
Taxpayers, the executive branch, and federal agencies: limits the President's flexibility to appoint interim leaders quickly, which could delay filling the DNI role if qualifying confirmed officials are unavailable.
Federal employees and agencies: the statute's eligibility criteria may prompt disputes over who qualifies as a Senate‑confirmed official, creating litigation risk and short‑term leadership uncertainty.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a prioritized order—PDDNI, other Senate-confirmed DNI-office officials, then any Senate-confirmed intelligence official—for who may serve as acting Director of National Intelligence, displacing the FVRA except as a fallback.
Official title: DNII Act of 2026
Introduced June 23, 2026 by Mark R. Warner · Last progress June 23, 2026
Creates a statutory order for who may serve as acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) when the DNI is absent, disabled, or the office is vacant. It gives first priority to the Senate-confirmed Principal Deputy DNI, then other Senate-confirmed officials within the Office of the DNI, then any Senate-confirmed intelligence official, and only permits use of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA) if no one meets those criteria. The rule explicitly displaces the FVRA for covered DNI appointments and applies only to positions appointed by the President with Senate advice and consent under the cited DNI statute.