US National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair is resigning under pressure from the White House, ending a tumultuous 16-month tenure marked by intelligence failures and spy agency turf wars.

The gunmen who attacked Mumbai set out by boat from Pakistan’s port of Karachi, a top police official said, as the US secretary of state headed today to India in Washington’s efforts to defuse tension between the two nuclear rivals.

US National Intelligence Director John Negroponte warned yesterday of possible “major turmoil and conflict” in Nigeria if President Olesegun Obasanjo seeks approval of a constitutional amendment permitting him to seek a third term in office.

US National Intelligence Director John Negroponte takes centre stage today as he delivers his first annual assessment of national security threats to Congress.