Fundamentally reforming the intelligence community is an urgent task for the second Trump administration. If the White House fails to reshape U.S. intelligence, any future Republican president will confront even worse partisan harassment than President Donald Trump faced from the “deep state” during his first term.

Such root-and-branch reforms cannot originate with the executive branch. Besides, that’s a dead letter since Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fallen out of favor with the White House over her strange statements about Iran’s nuclear program. Perhaps that’s just as well, since the inexperienced Gabbard had little credibility with the intelligence community anyway.

Fixing American intelligence, therefore, falls to Congress, both legally and practically. Here, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has taken a step toward major changes to the intelligence community by introducing the Intelligence Community Efficiency and Effectiveness Act.

While much of the content of Cotton’s proposed act is difficult to dispute, some of its big changes are nothing short of disastrous, promising a decisive move away from meaningful reform.

First, the good parts. Cotton’s proposal for a significant slim-down of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks........

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