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Powell, Ridge Support New Intelligence Post By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge yesterday gave their support to the creation of a new national intelligence director to oversee the entire U.S. intelligence community (see GSN, Sept. 9). In testimony before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, both officials said that the planned director would help them do their jobs. “We need a stronger, empowered quarterback,” Powell said. The creation of a national intelligence director was one of the main intelligence reform measures recommended this summer by the Sept. 11 commission. Last week, the White House proposed that such a director have budgetary authority over the National Foreign Intelligence Program and a strong role in the appointment of heads of various intelligence agencies. “In this town it’s budget authority that counts. Can you move money? Can you set standards for people? Do you have the access needed to the president? The NID [national intelligence director] will have all of that, and so I think this is a far more powerful player. And that will help [the] State Department,” Powell said yesterday While the White House and the Sept. 11 commission agree on the need for a national intelligence director, they have offered differing approaches for advisors to the new director. The Sept. 11 commission has called for the creation of three deputy national intelligence directors to also serve as the head of the CIA, defense undersecretary for intelligence and either FBI assistant director for intelligence or homeland security undersecretary for information analysis. The White House, however, has instead proposed the creation of a Cabinet-level Joint Intelligence Community Council to assist the new director. Both Powell and Ridge yesterday offered their support for the joint intelligence community council. “The admonition about serving two masters is a good one. And I think the president, in anticipation of that concern, in his recommendation included the joint intel community council. So you’re not dealing with necessarily people serving two roles on a day-to-day basis, but you have access to the principals at the Cabinet level to make the critical decisions and to give guidance and to compete for the attention and the budget and everything else that will be in the control and the responsibility of the NID,” Ridge said. Powell told lawmakers that by serving on such a council, he would be “in a better position to point out the needs of the foreign policy experts of the [State] department and my need as secretary of state.” Ridge also said that the joint intelligence community council approach would also help improve accountability. “Once the consensus is reached, when you have the principals involved, rather than an assistant secretary, an undersecretary, a deputy secretary, then I think, frankly, it streamlines and enhances the credibility that whatever is decided is to be implemented and the principal him or herself is going to be held accountable,” he said. Powell urged caution on the implementation of another intelligence reform measure proposed by the Sept. 11 commission — the creation of national intelligence centers overseen by the new director to conduct joint collection and analysis on specific issues. The White House has requested the presidential commission investigating prewar intelligence on Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts to examine the creation of such a center to focus on nonproliferation. “You can create all kinds of structures — in the military, we’d say you can create all kinds of spaces — but there are a limited number of faces with the expertise needed for these spaces. So be careful about creating any structures that might really not be necessary if all you’re going to end up doing is competing to get the best people from organizations that are doing good work now to fill these new spaces,” Powell told lawmakers.
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