Bush signs new rules, roles for spy agencies

[cal04]

Source: Associated Press

updated
President Bush approved an order Wednesday that rewrites the rules governing spying by U.S. intelligence agencies, both in the United States and abroad, and strengthens the authority of the national intelligence director, according to a U.S. official and government documents.

Executive Order 12333, which lays out the responsibilities of each of the 16 agencies, maintains the decades-old prohibitions on assassination and using unwitting human subjects for scientific experiments, according to a power point briefing given to Congress that was reviewed by The Associated Press. The CIA notoriously tested LSD on human subjects in the 1950s, which was revealed by a Senate investigation in 1977.

The new order gives the national intelligence director, a position created in 2005, new authority over any intelligence information collected that pertains to more than one agency — an attempt to force greater information exchange among agencies traditionally reluctant to share their most prized intelligence. The order directs the attorney general to develop guidelines to allow agencies access to information held by other agencies. That could potentially include the sharing of sensitive information about Americans.

(snip)
The order, which has not yet been publicly released, is expected to cut into one of the CIA's traditional roles. The CIA has for 50 years set the policy and largely called the shots on relationships between U.S. intelligence agencies and their foreign counterparts. According to the briefing charts, the national intelligence director will now set the rules for engaging with foreign intelligence and security services. The CIA will now just "coordinate implementation," according to the briefing charts.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/intelligence_rules

[annabanana]

1. So this means that MORE of the career people, the

civil service people are out of the loop?

[cal04]

2. White House cuts into CIA

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24108680-12377,00.html

(snip)
The reform "clearly puts the (director of national intelligence or DNI) in charge,'' congresswoman Jane Harman told The Washington Post, of the three-year-old office created to coordinate US intelligence.

The order "makes it harder for the intelligence community agencies to resist'' directives from the DNI, added Harman, who was briefed about the changes yesterday.

According to The Washington Post, which obtained a White House presentation on the reforms, the new system gives the director authority to issue "overarching policies and procedures'' and to coordinate among the country's 16 spy agencies.

(snip)
In what the Post called ``one of the more controversial changes'', the revisions give the DNI authority to engage other countries' intelligence services, a job that used to be done by the CIA.

[sofa king]

3. About that controversial bit....

Making the DNI the coordinator with foreign intelligence is a big deal. Why? Because while it's still technically illegal to spy on our own citizens, it's not illegal to let a foreign intelligence agency spy on your own citizens, then share the results with us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

Now, take a guess what the Bush Administration, with its proven record of politicizing everything it does, will be using ECHELON for this campaign season? John McCain will be reading about what the Big O had for breakfast while he eats his own.