For one year and 51 days, the nation’s top intelligence official has been without a second-in-command. When Gen. Michael Hayden stepped down as the principal deputy director of national intelligence, in May of last year, to become the CIA director, it effectively left the intelligence community without a chief operating officer.

But today, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell announced that the president has nominated Donald M. Kerr to be McConnell’s new No. 2. Kerr is currently director of the National Reconnaissance Office, a position he has held since July 2005. Previously, he was the CIA’s top science and technology official, and he has served in a number of other posts.

The full text of McConnell’s message to intelligence community employees announcing Kerr’s nomination follows:

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce that the President today nominated Dr. Donald M. Kerr to be the next Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence. He brings a wealth of experience and a focus on mission, gained from previous positions in the Intelligence Community, U.S. Government, and private industry.

Dr. Kerr currently serves as the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office and the Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force (Intelligence Space Technology). He previously served as CIA Director of Science and Technology, Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Laboratory Division), several positions at the Department of Energy, and as the Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory. I look forward to his strong support and insight as we move to complete my 500-Day Plan, and continue our vital work for the security of our nation.

In accordance with the Intelligence Reform & Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Dr. Kerr’s nomination is subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate. We look forward to their favorable consideration of his nomination.

Sincerely,

Mike McConnell

The search for a deputy DNI has been a long, sometimes tortured affair. Several officials were approached–they declined–and the White House shot down other selections. McConnell has been doing double-duty, acting as the president’s chief intelligence adviser and trying to manage the community day-to-day.

After Hayden left for the CIA, intelligence observers worried that former DNI John Negroponte–who for all his diplomatic skills was never highly-regarded as an intelligence community manager–would be left in the lurch. Negroponte stayed on as DNI for seven more months, then left to become deputy secretary of state. When the president chose McConnell to replace him, intelligence observers breathed a sigh of releif–McConnell is deeply respected within the community, and career officials see him as “one of us.”

But unlike Negroponte, McConnell was a management nut. He has embarked on an ambitious set of reform plans, including speeding up the security clearance process, devoting new resources to science and technology, and implementing joint-duty requirements for promotion to senior ranks. In short, McConnell is a born manager, which left many wondering what kind of skills he’d want in a deputy.

Just doing a quick reading of the tea leavs on Kerr’s nomination, McConnell had to find someone willing to take on the arguably thankless job, as NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly pointed out in a recent piece on Kerr’s potential nomination. The Bush administration is also in its twilight. It’s likely that McConnell prevailed upon Kerr’s allegiance to the intelligence community–in which he has served for so many years–to come aboard and help him implement his reform plan.

I’m not sure whether some will see the move from NRO to the DNI’s office as a promotion–probably not–but it does give Kerr an ostensibly wider purview of the nation’s spy agencies, and that may have been attractive to him. He must figure that he has something to contribute.

One other note: The DNI’s office is launching a big push on the science and technology front. As part of the fiscal 2008 budget request, McConnell has asked Congress for money to set up the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, iARPA, modeled after the successful Pentagon R&D unit, DARPA. Kerr used to run the CIA’s science and technology division, and so has some familiarity with that terrain. As a former senior CIA official reminded me this morning, a huge portion of the intelligence community is devoted to technical issues–everything from signals collection and processing to geospatial intelligence. Kerr is also double-hatted at NRO–he’s assistant to the Secretary of the Airforce. He has defense credentials, and likely got the blessing of Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Kerr might be able to provide some bureaucratic cover for McConnell, too. In a controversial move, iARPA would take away the money that the CIA and other agencies receive for community-wide intelligence projects. (The agencies get to keep science and technology funds slated for their own, individual purposes.) Kerr will likely understand the sensitivities involved in dipping into other agencies’ rice bowls, and so he might be able to help shepherd that process as the deputy DNI.

(For the record, here’s the White House’s personnel announcement on Kerr.)