Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive

The Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX) directs national counterintelligence (CI) for the U.S. federal government and is responsible to the Director of National Intelligence. The Office was established on January 5, 2001 by a directive from President Bill Clinton, which also established the National Counterintelligence Board. It replaced the National Counterintelligence Center, which was created in 1994 in response to the arrest of CIA mole Aldrich Ames.

The ONCIX facilitates and enhances U.S. counterintelligence efforts and awareness by enabling the CI community to better identify, assess, prioritize and counter intelligence threats from foreign powers, terrorist groups, and other non-state entities; ensuring the CI community acts efficiently and effectively; and providing for the integration of all U.S. counterintelligence activities. The Office characterizes its mission as: "Exploit and defeat adversarial intelligence activities directed against American interests; Protect the integrity of the US intelligence system; Provide incisive, actionable intelligence to decisionmakers at all levels; Protect vital national assets from adversarial intelligence activities; Neutralize and exploit adversarial intelligence activities targeting the armed forces."

The ONCIX develops, coordinates, and produces:

• Annual foreign intelligence threat assessments and other analytic CI products.
• An annual national CI strategy for the US Government.
• Priorities for CI collection, investigations, and operations.
• CI program budgets and evaluations that reflect strategic priorities.
• In-depth espionage damage assessments.
• CI awareness, outreach, and training standards policies.

The National Counterintelligence Executive chairs the National Counterintelligence Policy Board, the principal inter-agency mechanism for developing national CI policies and procedures, and heads the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive.