The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States brought intense scrutiny to the nation's intelligence network and prompted a wave of changes to the system aimed at improving intelligence sharing among the more than a dozen agencies involved in national security work.

After months of interviews and research into the events surrounding 9/11, an independent panel issued a report making recommendations on how to reform the nation's intelligence community.

In response to the report, President Bush in August 2004 announced his support for creating a new post -- national intelligence director -- and establishing a national counterterrorism center to better coordinate the 15 intelligence agencies. Congress followed through in late 2004 with legislation codifying the changes, and the president signed them into law.

Role of national intelligence chief
John Negroponte, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, became national intelligence director in April 2005.

He called the position his "most challenging assignment" in more than 40 years of government service, including ambassadorships in Honduras, Mexico and the Philippines, the Associated Press reported.

In his new post, Negroponte heads the intelligence community and serves as president's principal intelligence adviser, giving him daily briefings on intelligence.

The post, which requires Senate confirmation, is intended to allow the director of the Central Intelligence Agency -- currently Porter Goss, former undercover operative and Florida congressman -- to focus on foreign intelligence collection and analysis.

Negroponte is responsible for coordinating the activities of the CIA, Defense Department intelligence agencies, the FBI and other counterterrorism activities.

Through the National Counterterrorism Center, the national intelligence director is tasked with merging foreign and domestic intelligence related to terrorism. The hope is that this effort will allow one group to better "connect the dots" of disparate pieces of intelligence.

National Counterterrorism Center
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is responsible for analyzing and integrating foreign and domestic intelligence on terrorism collected by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The analytical capabilities of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, which was created in early 2003 soon after the Department of Homeland Security, are to be integrated into the NCTC, according to the White House.

On June 10, President Bush nominated retired Navy Vice Adm. John Scott Redd to lead the center. He must still be confirmed by the Senate.

Redd served 36 years in the U.S. Navy, commanding everything from a single destroyer to an entire fleet, and has held top posts at the Pentagon. Since retiring in 1998, he served as CEO of a high-tech education company and deputy administrator and chief operating officer of the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, reported the AP.

"He is someone who understands the nature of the enemy that we face in the war on terrorism," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

If confirmed, Redd will report to the national intelligence director.

The NCTC is responsible for coordinating the government's plans to counter terrorist threats against the United States and to monitor those plans.

Its purpose is to ensure analysis of domestic and foreign intelligence in one place, but the separate intelligence agencies are to retain their unique operational missions.

NewsHour Report: Congress passes intelligence reforms. (12.8.04)

Prewar intelligence report recommendations
More changes are on the way due to a bipartisan report on pre-Iraq war intelligence and weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

In early 2004, President Bush appointed Republican Judge Laurence Silberman and former Democratic Sen. Charles Robb to head a commission charged with investigating prewar intelligence. The commission produced a 600-page report sharply critical of the U.S. Intelligence community for intelligence failures before and after the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003. The report said prewar intelligence was "dead wrong."

In response to the report, Homeland security adviser Fran Townsend said on June 29, 2005 that the Bush administration accepted 70 of the commission's 74 recommendations.

The changes the administration plans to implement include the establishment of a national counter proliferation center for tracking WMD, the appointment of an assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice, the creation of a new national security service within the FBI, and the placement of all foreign human intelligence activities under the control of the CIA.

Some of the changes, including the establishment of a new assistant attorney general, require congressional approval.

Update: White House Orders Intelligence Changes Based on WMD Report (6.29.05)

-- Compiled by Larisa Epatko for the Online NewsHour