Overhaul Elevates Intelligence Director By SIOBHAN GORMAN

The White House is expected Thursday to unveil the largest overhaul of intelligence powers in a generation, spelling out the responsibilities of each intelligence agency in the wake of several reforms following the 2001 terrorist attacks, according to government officials familiar with the plans.

President George W. Bush signed the executive order updating spy powers Wednesday, the officials said. Designed to bolster the power of the director of national intelligence, the revision has been a source of significant turf battles among intelligence agencies, which fear the rewrite of spy powers is coming at their expense.

Congress created the intelligence director's post as part of a series of intelligence reforms in 2004, but the extent of his authority has been a constant source of debate among intelligence officials and lawmakers.

The overhaul gives the intelligence director a greater role in hiring and firing agency heads, authority to remove barriers to intelligence sharing, and the responsibility for overseeing the acquisition of expensive programs such as new spy satellites, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. It also hands the intelligence director more power to direct midlevel intelligence officers.

The revised order also gives the director the responsibility for developing policy governing relationships with foreign intelligence services, which had been handled primarily by the Central Intelligence Agency. Under the updated order, the CIA would be in charge of implementing the policy set by the intelligence director.

The order "clearly puts the [director of national intelligence] in charge," said Rep. Jane Harman (D., Calif.). The order "makes it harder for the intelligence-community agencies to resist" directives from the spy chief, added Rep. Harman, who was briefed Wednesday on the revised order. She helped craft the 2004 law that created the new intelligence-director post.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell has been working on the rewrite for at least a year. Even after the intensive turf battles, intelligence officials said Wednesday that they were committed to working within the new rules.

Mr. McConnell's office referred questions to the White House, where spokesman Stuart Siciliano declined to comment.

The rewrite, which updates a Reagan-era policy, aims to bring spy powers in line with not only the creation of the director of national intelligence, but also a new law revising surveillance powers that was enacted this month.

The revised order states that the new law will be the only law that governs surveillance, in an attempt to quell the concerns of lawmakers who contend that Mr. Bush ignored the law when he authorized a warrantless-spying program after the Sept. 11 attacks.

It largely steered clear of prickly civil-liberties issues, according to officials briefed on the matter. The most significant change gives the attorney general a greater role in overseeing all domestic intelligence activities, which intelligence officials cast as an enhancement of privacy.

The revised order says covert action will be run by the National Security Council at the White House, carried out by the CIA and overseen by the intelligence director.

Some on Capitol Hill were frustrated that the administration kept Congress in the dark on this historic overhaul. "They did not consult Congress at all," said one congressional official.

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