Sponsors (5)
Introduced June 27, 2025 by Thomas Bryant Cotton · Last progress June 27, 2025
This bill trades potential near-term budget and bureaucratic savings and some clarified authorities for reduced oversight, legal and operational uncertainty, and risks to intelligence capabilities, workforce continuity, and research and public-health collaborations.
Taxpayers and the federal budget may see lower costs because the bill consolidates offices, closes or forces divestment of unneeded ODNI facilities (including NIU), caps ODNI staff growth, and eliminates some redundant managerial positions.
Federal intelligence roles, titles, and statutory references are clarified and simplified (e.g., consistent job titles, shifting 'conduct' to 'direct' accountability), which should reduce legal ambiguity and make interagency responsibilities easier to understand.
Certain operational changes aim to strengthen mission-focused capabilities: protections to prevent intelligence funds from indirectly supporting entities tied to foreign governments, consolidation of counterproliferation authorities, centralizing some counterintelligence tasks, and enabling rapid multi-agency task forces could speed some threat responses.
Congressional and public oversight will be reduced because the bill repeals or narrows reporting and advisory requirements, removes some confirmation requirements, and centralizes authorities, limiting transparency and external checks on intelligence activity.
Key intelligence capabilities and coordination could be weakened—removal or repurposing of centers (Foreign Malign Influence Center, NIU, biosecurity focus), shifting authorities to operational agencies, and eliminating statutory roles may reduce the U.S.'s ability to detect, coordinate against, and report on foreign influence, biological threats, and workforce development.
The bill risks significant workforce disruption: layoffs or lost contracts from closing NIU and divesting facilities, a hard cap on ODNI FTEs, transfers to other agencies (e.g., FBI) with possible pay/classification changes, and loss of statutory positions (e.g., Chief Data Officer, National Intelligence Manager).
Based on analysis of 26 sections of legislative text.
Large-scale intelligence reorganization: ends or transfers centers, limits foreign-funded analytic collaborations, bans DEI spending from NIP funds, caps ODNI staff, and mandates facility divestment.
Reorganizes large parts of the U.S. intelligence community by terminating, moving, or renaming multiple centers, offices, and positions; closing the National Intelligence University; transferring some centers from DNI to FBI and CIA; and adding new limits on funding and operations. It also bars intelligence funds from supporting certain collaborations with entities that receive foreign government support (except Five Eyes), prohibits use of intelligence funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, caps ODNI staff, requires sale or divestment of unneeded ODNI facilities, and imposes multiple reporting, acquisition-reform, and task-force rules with staggered implementation deadlines.