WP, Pincus: (Dem) Legislators Seek U.S. Intelligence Director

[DeepModem Mom]

Legislators Seek U.S. Intelligence Director

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 2, 2004; Page A09


The Democratic members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday recommended the establishment of a director of national intelligence who would have both budgetary and operational control over the CIA and the much larger collection of Pentagon and other agencies that collect and analyze intelligence.

In offering what would be a major reorganization, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) said: "One of the major deficiencies in our intelligence community is the fact that there are 15 intelligence agencies -- operating with different rules, cultures and databases -- that do not work as one integrated intelligence community."

The suggestion that there be a single director of national intelligence, or DNI, is not a new one, having been proposed last year by the joint committee that investigated 9/11, and before that by Brent Scowcroft in his role as chairman of President Bush's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

The DNI would replace the director of central intelligence (DCI), currently George J. Tenet, who also serves as CIA director. Although Tenet has the title and standing as the president's senior intelligence adviser, under current law he has total control only over the CIA. He has advisory status when it comes to operational and budgetary matters involving various Pentagon intelligence agencies that account for 90 percent of the $40 billion spent each year on intelligence.

(The article reports that Scowcroft's proposal "was blocked two years ago by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and lawmakers, particularly those on the House and Senate armed services committees who did not want to lose control of their portion of intelligence spending.")


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43208-2004Apr1.html

[Kagemusha]

1. Having different voices means you can pick the one you want to hear.

Someone try telling me I'm wrong in assessing the reason for not going forward with this..