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U.S. Senators Unveil Intelligence Reform Package By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — The heads of the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee yesterday unveiled intelligence reform legislation that would create a national intelligence director with “strong” budgetary and personnel authority (see GSN, Sept. 15). “Our bipartisan proposal will reorganize many of our intelligence agencies to create a unified command and control structure so that one person, the new national intelligence director, is in charge and accountable for the nation’s intelligence operations. Under our plan, when somebody asks who’s in charge, the question will not be met with blank stares and nonanswers,” said the top Democrat on the committee, Senator Joseph Lieberman (Conn.). As envisioned in the bill, the new national intelligence director’s responsibilities would include managing the National Intelligence Program, a budget category that would consist of the CIA, National Security Agency, National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, the FBI’s Office of Intelligence and the Homeland Security Department’s Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate, along with any other intelligence unit that serves multiple federal agencies. The new director would not have control, though, over “tactical” military intelligence assets, such as the intelligence services of the four branches of the U.S. armed services. Those would continue to remain under the control of the U.S. Defense Department. Lieberman said that control over most of the U.S. intelligence budget would shift from the Pentagon to the national intelligence director — a shift he described as “revolutionary.” In Congressional hearings held over the past several weeks on the issue of intelligence reform — prompted by the release this summer of the findings of the Sept. 11 commission — Pentagon officials have expressed concerns that changes to the structure of the intelligence community could hinder the ability of battlefield commanders to receive necessary information. In remarks yesterday, Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) sought to address such concerns. “All of us want to make sure that the real-time intelligence that goes to our troops on the front line is not in an way interfered with. We believe that the restructuring that we’ve proposed will improve the quality of intelligence for all the consumers, including the Department of Defense, which is certainly a major consumer,” she said. The bill would also grant the new director with the authority to create national intelligence centers to conduct joint collection and analysis on specific issues, such as WMD proliferation, according to Lieberman. In its report, the Sept. 11 commission recommended the creation of such centers along with the new national intelligence director. Earlier this week, though, Secretary of State Colin Powell cautioned against such a proposal, saying that the new centers may draw away intelligence analysts needed in other organizations (see GSN, Sept. 14). In a shift from the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, the bill would not create three deputy national intelligence directors who would also serve as head of the CIA, defense undersecretary for intelligence and either FBI assistant director for intelligence or homeland security undersecretary for information analysis. Instead, the bill supports a White House proposal to create a Cabinet-level Joint Intelligence Community Council to assist the new director. Lieberman said yesterday that the Sept. 11 commission’s approach would have resulted in reduced authority for the national intelligence director. “Where would the loyalty of those deputies be? Would it be to the department that they spend most of their time in, or to the national intelligence director? And of course we feel very strongly that you can’t blur those lines. That’s exactly what's happened too much up until now,” he said. In addition to the national intelligence director, the bill would also implement another key intelligence reform proposal made by the Sept. 11 commission — the creation of a National Counterterrorism Center that would combine intelligence analysis and joint operational planning. The new center would not have the authority, though to direct executive-branch agencies to conduct specific operations. The Governmental Affairs Committee has been ordered by the Senate leadership to prepare legislation implementing the recommendations made by the Sept. 11 commission. The committee is now set to hold a markup hearing on the legislation Tuesday, with the bill expected to be brought to the Senate floor the following week, according to Lieberman. Lieberman also said that he expected additional recommendations made by the Sept. 11 commission to be included as amendments to the bill when it is brought to the full Senate, adding, “I hope they will pass.” In a joint statement yesterday, the former chairman and vice-chairman of the Sept. 11 commission praised the bill, saying it represented a “significant breakthrough.” “We consider this legislation an important first step in moving our nation in a direction that will greatly increase the safety of the American people,” said Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton. In the House of Representatives, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said yesterday that the House Republican leadership would introduce a “comprehensive” bill of its own to implement the Sept. 11 commission’s recommendations early next week, with the goal of conducting a full House vote by late September. “I have asked the committee chairmen to move quickly, because we need to make our country safer as soon as possible. Our process will create a comprehensive, thoughtful, responsible, and effective law that will accomplish that goal,” Hastert said in a statement. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) yesterday, however, criticized the House Republican leadership for moving too slow and for failing to fully involve Democrats. “The Senate acted in a different way. The Democrats and Republicans worked together. They have a bipartisan bill that now can be acted upon,” she said. “It’s a place to begin. And it isn’t a place to begin to hand us a bill at the end of the month that we don’t even know the provenance of.” Congressional OversightMeanwhile, more than 20 senators met yesterday to discuss implementing the recommendations made by the Sept. 11 commission to improve Congressional oversight of intelligence and homeland security (see GSN, Aug. 26). In its report, the Sept. 11 commission recommended the creation of either a joint House-Senate intelligence community or the creation of separate committees in each house of Congress with combined appropriations and authorization authority. The panel also recommended the creation of permanent House and Senate homeland security committees. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who along with Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) heads a 22-member working group considering the Sept. 11 commission’s recommendations on Congressional oversight, said yesterday that he expected to have a working paper prepared within “the next few days.” McConnell also said that most of the anticipated proposals could be implemented by changes to Senate rules, rather than through new legislation. Both McConnell and Reid said they would work quickly, emphasizing the need to conduct reform of Congressional oversight in tandem with efforts to reform the intelligence community. “I felt, and do feel extremely positive about the senators who we met with today. There was really a feeling of what we're doing is important, and that that has to be carried forward to accomplish something rather than just recognizing there's a problem,” Reid said.
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