12月8日，美国众议院最终以336票赞成75票反对的投票结果通过了情报机构改革法案，这是中央情报局自1947年成立以来第一次“大手术”。根据该法案，美国将新设国家情报局长一职并增设全国性反恐中心；确定了情报搜集工作的先后优先顺序；加强美国的边境管理。外电报道如下：The scattered¹ agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community are about to get a new leader. The question is: Will that person have enough authority to make them follow?

On Tuesday, the House broke a monthlong stalemate and approved legislation to overhaul² the nation's intelligence system. The Senate is expected to follow suit today.

But the compromises that went into creating a director of national intelligence have left many government officials and espionage³ experts skeptical⁴ that key reforms will amount to more than an administrative⁵ reshuffling - or will make the nation any safer.

Follow suit表示“跟着出同花色的牌，跟着做，仿效别人”，例如：One shop began to prolong the shop hours, and all other shops along the same street followed suit.(一家店铺开始延长营业时间，同一条街上的其他商店也都照方抓药。)

据悉，这项议案在通过前遭到了社会各界、特别是参议院保守派人士的强烈质疑，反对者担心新设的国家情报局长的介入会破坏原有的军事指挥和决策系统模式；并大大削弱国防部长的权力、尤其是预算权。