Intelligence Bill Caps ODNI Staff at 650, Eliminates Climate Security Council, and Bans Specific DEI Practices

The new Intelligence Community Efficiency and Effectiveness Act of 2025 is a massive overhaul of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, essentially taking a wrecking ball to the organizational chart of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). This isn't just shuffling papers; it’s a structural reorganization that impacts everything from who runs counterintelligence to what kind of training IC employees can receive.

The Great Intelligence Center Shuffle

If you were keeping score on where major intelligence centers live, get ready for a change of address. The bill mandates two major transfers that fundamentally shift power. First, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC)—which manages security clearances and tracks foreign spies—is being moved entirely into the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division (Sec. 6). This move takes effect 180 days after the law passes. For the average person, this means the massive national security clearance process is now formally housed within a law enforcement agency, potentially streamlining security but also concentrating significant power within the FBI.

Second, the National Counterproliferation and Biosecurity Center is being moved to the CIA and renamed the National Counterproliferation Center, dropping the 'Biosecurity' focus (Sec. 8). Meanwhile, the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is renamed the National Counterterrorism and Counternarcotics Center and its high-level strategic planning duties are shifted to the National Security Council (Sec. 7). In short: the FBI, CIA, and NSC are gaining major operational centers, while the ODNI is slimming down.

ODNI Gets a Strict Staff Cap and a Diet

For the Office of the DNI itself, this bill is a mandate to shrink. The staff of the ODNI is getting a hard cap of 650 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), including contractors (Sec. 3). If you’re a policy wonk or analyst, this means the DNI’s central coordinating body is going on a strict diet, which could force greater reliance on personnel detailed from the individual agencies (like the CIA or NSA). The bill also mandates that the DNI develop a plan within 180 days to reform the acquisition process, prioritizing commercial solutions and speed, which could be a boon for tech companies trying to sell to the IC (Sec. 2).

But the biggest change is the extensive list of offices and entities being eliminated entirely (Sec. 10). The bill is shutting down: the National Intelligence University (NIU) (Sec. 13), the Foreign Malign Influence Center, the Intelligence Community Innovation Unit, the Climate Security Advisory Council, the Joint Intelligence Community Council, and the Office of Engagement. If you were a student or staff member at NIU, or worked in one of these centers, your job is being phased out within 90 to 180 days.

The New Rules for Think Tanks and Training

Two provisions introduce new funding restrictions that reach outside the IC bureaucracy. First, the bill clamps down on funding for think tanks. National Intelligence Program (NIP) funds cannot be used to support any think tank that receives financial or in-kind support from a foreign government, unless that government is part of the Five Eyes alliance (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) (Sec. 11). If you’re a researcher or policy advocate who relies on NIP grants and also collaborates with, say, a German or Japanese government research entity, that funding stream could dry up.

Second, the bill imposes a sweeping ban on using NIP funds for specific Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices (Sec. 14). The law defines these banned practices as any training or policy that: 1) discriminates based on race or sex, 2) claims any race or sex is inherently superior or inferior, or 3) labels any group as inherently “oppressed” or “privileged.” The DNI must immediately revise all policies, manuals, and training materials to comply with this prohibition. For IC employees, this means certain mandatory training and internal policies focused on DEI are now illegal to fund, forcing a rapid, comprehensive change in workplace culture and training across all intelligence agencies.