US intelligence chief quits after spate of failed terror attacks

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.

Blair, a retired Navy admiral, is the third director of national intelligence, a position created in response to public outrage over the failure to prevent the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

His departure underscores the disorganisation inside the Obama administration’s intelligence apparatus, rocked over the past six months by a spate of high-profile attempted terror attacks that revealed new national security lapses.

And it comes two days after a stark Senate report criticised Blair’s office and other intelligence agencies for new failings that, despite a top-to-bottom overhaul of the US intelligence apparatus after 9/11, allowed a would-be bomber to board a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

In a message to his work force, Blair said his last day would be May 28.

The resignation became inevitable following a meeting between President Barack Obama and Blair, according to two senior congressional officials.

The officials said it became clear Blair had “lost the confidence of the president”.

Obama made no reference to Blair’s rocky tenure in a brief statement.