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Judge Richard Posner was in town for a public appearance the other night, and as he is a leading candidate for the title World's Foremost Authority, I thought I would stop by the famous old Willard Hotel to see what he had to say about the 9/11 Commission Report and its legislative by-product, the Intelligence Report Act. Supposedly the legislation improves the capacity of our intelligence community in this time of terror attacks worldwide. Judge Posner, a federal judge and lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, writes on a broad range of public matters. He writes beautifully on...

White House overhauls spy agencies The move was spurred by questionable prewar Iraq intelligence. The Associated Press June 30. 2005 6:01AM AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite FBI Director Robert Mueller discusses President Bush's decision to create a national security service within the FBI, during a press conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 29, 2005. Mueller, who will share authority for choosing the head of the new service with National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, added that he does not regard the new agency as an infringement on the FBI's independence. President Bush granted the new national intelligence chief expanded...

PARLIAMENTARIANS gathered in Washington this holiday weekend from Europe and North America arrived just in time to witness the U.S. House of Representatives -- on the eve of the anniversary commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence -- trample upon the right of self-determination. Morphing themselves into city council members, a House majority overturned a city law and voted to allow D.C. residents to keep in their homes loaded shotguns and rifles, as well as handguns bought before 1976, unbounded by trigger locks or disassembled. The deed itself makes a mockery of Congress as a federal body. If the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Judge Richard A. Posner was in town for a public appearance the other night, and as he is a leading candidate for the title World's Foremost Authority, I thought I would stop by the famous old Willard Hotel to see what he had to say about the 9/11 Commission Report and its legislative by-product, the Intelligence Report Act. Supposedly the legislation improves the capacity of our intelligence community in this time of terror attacks worldwide. Posner, a federal judge and lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, writes on a broad range of public matters. He...

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL The chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday welcomed the nomination of John D. Negroponte as the nation's intelligence chief and highlighted the critical role that his deputy is expected to play. "Both Jay and I think that the appointment of Ambassador John Negroponte and, more especially, the appointment of his deputy, Lieutenant General Michael Hayden ... represent an excellent team," said Sen. Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican and committee chairman, who appeared on "Fox News Sunday" with Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia Democrat.

10:00 A.M. ESTTHE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I appreciate you're here -- coming here. I'm pleased to announce my decision to nominate Ambassador John Negroponte as Director of National Intelligence. The Director's responsibility is straightforward and demanding. John will make sure that those whose duty it is to defend America have the information we need to make the right decisions. John understands America's global intelligence needs because he spent the better part of his life in our foreign service, and is now serving with distinction in the sensitive post of our nation's first Ambassador to a free Iraq.John's...

c By DOUGLAS JEHL ASHINGTON, Dec. 28 - The head of the Central Intelligence Agency's analytical branch is being forced to step down, former intelligence officials say, opening a major new chapter in a shakeup under Porter J. Goss, the agency's chief. The official, Jami Miscik, the agency's deputy director for intelligence, told her subordinates on Tuesday afternoon of her plan to step down on Feb. 4. A former intelligence official said that Ms. Miscik was told before Christmas that Mr. Goss wanted to make a change and that "the decision to depart was not hers." Ms. Miscik has headed...

LONDON, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- MI6 chief John Scarlett unveiled the biggest shake-up of the British intelligence service in 20 years in the wake of its performance before the Iraq war. The changes are meant to prevent a repeat of the government's withdrawal of the report on Iraq used to justify the 2003 invasion. The Times of London said Sunday the shake-up is a "tacit admission" the intelligence agency's credibility had been damaged. Scarlett plans to reinstate procedures used in the cold war when senior intelligence officers vetted information before it was passed on.

Fresh from their role in overhauling the nation's intelligence agencies, members of the independent Sept. 11 commission say they will now lobby to restructure Congress and what the commission described in its final report as the lawmakers' "dysfunctional" oversight of the C.I.A., other spy agencies and the Department of Homeland Security. The commissioners, who have formed a private group known as the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, say their lobbying effort will begin in earnest next month, when Congress returns from its holiday recess. The lobbying campaign appears to have the support of the White House, which has called for the...

Of all the bad ideas we heard during what passed for a Congressional debate over intelligence reform, none were as awful as a new plan being drawn up by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's staff to actually expand the Pentagon's authority over intelligence. Apparently Mr. Rumsfeld is not satisfied with controlling 80 percent of the intelligence budget, an absurd situation that would have been remedied in the intelligence bill if Congress had not caved in to the Pentagon's lobbying. In this latest power grab, the Defense Department wants to elbow its way into more traditional intelligence gathering, which has been and...

A bipartisan group of senators, representatives, and members of the 9/11 Commission flanked President Bush Friday at his signing of sweeping intelligence reform legislation. But an equally diverse collection of citizens' groups criticized what they saw as the potential for government oppression and invasions of privacy codified in the new law. President Bush called the new law, "the most dramatic reform of our nation's intelligence capabilities since President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947. "Under this new law, our vast intelligence enterprise will become more unified, coordinated and effective," Bush said. "It will enable us to...

Be honest. Do you think this intel "reform" bill will reform intel in any meaningful way — i.e., by reforming what's the near 100 percent failure rate of recent years down to, oh, 93, maybe 86 percent? I don't, and I don't know anyone from the sharper end of the "intelligence community" who does, either. But who cares? The Democrats are in favor of it, because reshuffling the bureaucracy is their preferred way of demonstrating that they're not soft on national security. And that means the media are in favor of it, and so, as we're constantly told, are "the...

It remains to be seen whether intelligence reform legislation will produce substantive improvements in our national security. Republicans and Democrats alike certainly hope so, as do we all. But Congress and the White House failed to approve other reforms passed by the House of Representatives that would have ensured heightened border security and the ability to control immigrant documentation and identification, which the 9/11 commission recommended. The debate over intelligence legislation, thanks to Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner and Duncan Hunter, did succeed in raising the level of a critical political and public dialogue on the importance of securing our borders and...

WASHINGTON – President Bush on Friday signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering in 50 years, hoping to improve the spy network that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks.

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary December 17, 2004 Press Briefing by Scott McClellan The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room Press Briefing 12:47 P.M. EST MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everybody. The President was pleased to be joined this morning by congressional leaders, September 11th Commission members, and some families of victims of the September 11th attacks as he signed into law the most far-reaching intelligence reforms in nearly 60 years. The President's most solemn responsibility is the safety and security of the American people. And the reforms he signed into law today build upon the significant steps...

This morning President Bush signed into law The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The Bill creates a new center for counter terrorism and a Cabinet level Intelligence Director with budget authority, the President also signed an executive order on the establishment of the Committee on Ocean Policy ENJOY YOUR VISIT TO SANITY ISLAND!

Americas Amber Alert News Center(WASHINGTON D.C.USA)AP--Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who almost succeeded in scuttling the intelligence overhaul bill, is not one to aim for a partial victory. "If you hold out for half a loaf, you probably end up getting a fifth of a loaf," the Wisconsin Republican said in an interview with The Associated Press. "If you hold out for a full loaf, you end up getting a lot more." The more in this case is a promise from House and Senate leaders to arrange votes in early 2005 on Sensenbrenner's idea to help fight terrorism: barring illegal immigrants from...

President Bush (news - web sites) on Friday signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering in 50 years, hoping to improve the spy network that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks. "Our vast intelligence enterprise will become more unified, coordinated and effective," Bush said. "It will enable us to better do our duty, which is to protect the American people." The 563-page bill, which endured a thorny path to congressional passage, also aims to tighten borders and aviation security. It creates a federal counterterrorism center and a new intelligence director, but Bush did not announce a...

Legislation overhauls U.S. intelligence-gathering, tightens security. WASHINGTON - President Bush is signing into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering in 50 years, hoping to improve the spy network that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks.

A new director of national intelligence and a counterterrorism center are the central elements of the intelligence bill President Bush (news - web sites) will sign Friday. But the measure includes provisions intended to shore up security at airports, seaports and borders; halt terrorist financing and travel; help law enforcement officials; protect civil liberties; and promote U.S. values overseas. A look at key elements of the bill: Border security. Aiming to strengthen security along the nation's notoriously porous borders, Congress authorized the Homeland Security Department to hire 2,000 more border agents and 800 more Customs and immigration agents each year...