Aug. 2, 2004
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday endorsed creation of a national intelligence czar and counterterrorism center his first steps in revamping the nation's intelligence-gathering system to help prevent a repeat of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"We are a nation in danger," Bush said as he announced his position during an appearance with top administration national security figures in the White House Rose Garden.
Bush thus embraced, with some changes, two key recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, which outlined lapses in intelligence that left America vulnerable to the attacks.
The bipartisan panel's most overarching recommendations in a 567-page report were for creation of a counterterrorism center, which the commission envisions as a joint operational planning and intelligence center staffed by personnel from all the spy agencies, and a national intelligence czar.
The chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, and former Rep. Lee Hamilton have insisted that the center and the national intelligence director position be placed in the executive office of the president to give the White House clout in dealing with all the nation's intelligence agencies. Bush said he wants them set up outside the White House.
"I don't think the person should be a member of my Cabinet," Bush said. "I will hire the person and I can fire the person. ... I don't think that the office should be in the White House, however, I think it should be a stand-alone group to better coordinate."
Intelligence reforms to help thwart a repeat of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 took on special urgency with the announcement Sunday by authorities that they had uncovered a plot by the al-Qaida terror network to attack five prominent financial institutions in New York City, Washington and Newark, N.J.
"The work of security in this vast nation is not done," Bush said. "The elevation of the threat level in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., is a serious reminder a solemn reminder of the threat we continue to face."
In asking Congress to create the position of a national intelligence director, Bush said the person holding the post would be appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and would serve at the pleasure of the president. The director would serve as the president's principal intelligence adviser, overseeing and coordinating the foreign and domestic activities of the intelligence community.
Currently, the CIA director not only heads his own agency but also oversees the U.S. intelligence community, which has grown to 15 agencies. But the director has neither budgetary authority nor day-to-day operational control of the other agencies, most of which are in the Defense Department. A national intelligence director would oversee all the agencies.
Under the reorganization Bush is backing, the CIA would be managed by a separate director and the national intelligence director would assume the broader responsibility of leading the intelligence community government-wide.
"I want, and every president must have, the best, unbiased, unvarnished assessment of America's intelligence professionals," Bush said.
He said the national counterterrorism center would build on the analytical work already being done by the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, which began operations in May 2003. The new center will become the "government's knowledge bank for information about known and suspected terrorists," Bush said.
He said the new center would coordinate and monitor counterterrorism plans and activities of all government agencies and departments to make sure the nation's efforts and actions are "unified in priority and purpose."
Bush was joined at the White House by acting CIA Director John McLaughlin, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
Bush also called on Congress to reform how lawmakers oversee the intelligence services.
"There are too many committees with overlapping jurisdiction, which wastes time and makes it difficult for meaningful oversight and reform," Bush said.
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