National Intelligence Director to step down

The White House announced that director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, would step down from his post effective today. Blair has held the position for just a little more than a year, but his relationship with the White House was rocky almost from the beginning. And tensions between him and the administration escalated after the “Christmas Day bombing,” when a Nigerian man nearly detonated a bomb aboard a plane on Christmas Day.

Blair is the first high-ranking member of the Obama national security team to leave the administration. Mark Mazzetti, national security correspondent for our partner The New York Times explains Blair’s job and the future of the position.