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President Bush has ordered CIA Director Porter J. Goss to increase by 50 percent the number of qualified CIA clandestine operators and intelligence analysts, an ambitious step that would mean the hiring and training of several thousand new personnel in coming years. Bush also ordered the doubling of CIA officers involved in research and development "to find new ways to bring science to bear in the war on terrorism, the proliferation of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and against new and emerging threats." In the presidential order, dated Nov. 18 and released by the White House yesterday, Bush also called...

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 108th Congress - 2nd Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the SenateVote Summary Question: On Passage of the Bill (S. 2845, As Amended ) Vote Number: 199 Vote Date: October 6, 2004, 05:01 PM Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Bill Passed Measure Number: S. 2845 (National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 ) Measure Title: A bill to reform the intelligence community and the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, and for other purposes. Vote Counts: YEAs 96 NAYs...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Republican leaders unveiled sweeping legislation on Friday that they said reflects Sept. 11 commission recommendations for reforming U.S. intelligence operations. But critics said their proposal for a new national intelligence director would have far less authority than the panel suggested and raised concerns that some law enforcement and immigration provisions could bog the measure down. The bill also includes far-reaching proposals on law enforcement, immigration, border security and foreign policy, going beyond legislation the Senate is to consider next week. "Our bill is the most comprehensive effort yet introduced that deals with the...

Kissinger Opposes U.S. Intel Czar, Is 'Optimistic' About Mideast Peace Wednesday, September 15, 2004 By David S. Hirschman Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (search) said Monday he was "uneasy" about uniting all of the country's intelligence operations under a single chief, he worried about the possibility of a nuclear Iran and he's "optimistic" the disputed security fence in Israel might eventually result in a negotiated solution to the Middle East conflict. Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation in Manhattan, Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under presidents Richard Nixon (search) and Gerald...

US President George W Bush is to give the CIA director new powers, including some control over other intelligence agencies, the White House says. Mr Bush is expected to sign executive orders on Friday, and will also launch a national counter-terrorism centre. Spokesman Scott McClellan said the CIA chief will have temporary authority to act as national intelligence director. The announcement follows calls for an intelligence overhaul after inquiries into the 11 September 2001 attacks. But correspondents note there is also a political angle to the timing of the executive orders, which do not need Congressional approval to be implemented....

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Washington In September, Congress will reconvene with a common goal at the top of its collective to-do list: reform our intelligence services in order to better protect the country from terrorist threats. Republicans and Democrats bring the best of intentions to their national security responsibilities. But too often, Congress and the American people lack the best information - in the form of declassified intelligence and national security materials - to ensure that the job is done right. Thomas H. Kean, the chairman of the 9/11 commission, said that three-quarters of the classified material he reviewed for the commission...

White House Drafts Intel Reform Orders 12 minutes ago Add White House - AP to My Yahoo! By KATHERINE PFLEGER SHRADER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The White House has drafted executive orders aimed at implementing the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations for a more powerful intelligence director and a new national counterterrorism center. Bush administration and congressional officials said Thursday drafts of executive orders are circulating among an interagency group for approval. One of the officials said the White House is floating three proposals, and asking for feedback by Friday. The orders would: _ Enhance the powers of the government's...

...Mr. Roberts... would dismantle the CIA into three separate agencies responsible for operations, analysis and technology. He then would bring them, and the intelligence agencies now in the Pentagon, under the control of the new national intelligence director. All of that and presumably keep fighting al Qaeda at the same time. We'll want to learn more, but our first reaction is to be skeptical of any plan that takes well-run intelligence assets away from the Defense Department, especially with troops currently fighting around the world.... We'd give Mr. Roberts more credit if his 139 pages of reform proposals addressed the...

Tenet blasts proposal to strip CIA of powers [snip] In a statement issued to the press, Tenet said the proposal "would undermine years of effort to integrate disciplines — hard-won steps that have led to some of the most significant intelligence successes in our history. The proposal runs totally counter to the concept of the collaboration among disciplines — a concept that has proven so effective against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups since 9/11." [snip] Tenet, who resigned earlier this year amid criticism of the CIA before and after the Sept. 11 attacks, disagreed, calling the proposal "yet another episode...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 - The Republican chairman of the Senate intelligence committee said Sunday that he would propose legislation to break up the Central Intelligence Agency and divide its responsibilities among three new spy agencies. The plan would eliminate the Pentagon's direct control over the National Security Agency and create a post of national intelligence director with virtually complete control over the government's $40 billion annual intelligence budget. The sweeping proposal, by Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, which would also provide the national intelligence director with budget authority over counterterrorism and counterintelligence programs of the F.B.I., goes far beyond the...

The aging CIA is badly in need of streamlining and reforms, according to more than a half-dozen former and current agency officials interviewed by United Press International. quot;You want some really good changes made, not just a rearrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic,quot; said former State Department and CIA counter-terrorism official Larry Johnson. The sharpest criticisms center on faulty analysis, too many layers of bureaucracy, too much movement between quot;accountsquot; or assignments and too many managers. The criticisms come as the Senate and House intelligence committees gear up for a single joint review of U.S. intelligence operations-focused on...