A G.O.P. Senator Proposes a Plan to Split Up C.I.A.

New York Times ^ | August 23, 2004 | PHILIP SHENON

[OESY]

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 recommendations of the independent Sept. 11 commission.

Aides to Senator Roberts said he had obtained support in principle from eight of nine Republicans on the intelligence committee and would present it Monday to the White House and to members of the Sept. 11 commission, whose final report has prompted President Bush and lawmakers to rush to overhaul the way the nation gathers and shares intelligence.

The plan is certain to be fiercely opposed by the C.I.A., which would cease to exist, its responsibilities shifted elsewhere and its name probably eliminated; by the Pentagon, which would have to cede control over the N.S.A. and other defense intelligence agencies that it long described as essential to the military; and by several influential members of Congress who have warned against any drastic restructuring of the nation's intelligence community.

"Our bill is real reform, and it's the right thing to do," Mr. Roberts said in a statement announcing the bill, which he titled the "9/11 National Security Protection Act." "We cannot allow turf battles to define this debate. No one agency, no matter how distinguished its history, is more important than U.S. national security."

A White House spokesman, Brian Besanceney, did not comment on the specifics of Senator Roberts's proposal but said, "We welcome ideas from members of Congress and will continue to work with Congress to accomplish the shared goal of intelligence reform and will look forward to reviewing the details of Senator Roberts's plan."

A C.I.A. spokesman said the agency would not comment until it saw details of Mr. Roberts's plan.

But a senior intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The proposal is unworkable and would hamper rather than enhance the nation's intelligence efforts at a critical time. It doesn't make any sense.''

The official added, "Rather than bringing intelligence disciplines together it smashes them apart."

Mr. Roberts's proposal brought a mixed reaction from Democrats. Rand Beers, a national security adviser to Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, said in a statement that Mr. Kerry welcomed the plan and that it was similar to proposals from Mr. Kerry, who has embraced all of the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, including creation of a powerful job of national intelligence director.

But Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is a member of the intelligence committee and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, offered immediate resistance, saying it was a mistake for Senator Roberts to move on overhauling the intelligence community without obtaining the support of Democrats.

"It's a mistake to begin with a partisan bill no matter what is in it," Mr. Levin said on the CBS program "Face the Nation." While not directly criticizing Mr. Roberts's plan, Mr. Levin, who has expressed skepticism over some of the major recommendations made by the Sept. 11 commission, said, "I think it's better to start on a bipartisan basis with a bipartisan bill."

Aides to Mr. Roberts said he had obtained support for the plan from all of the Republicans on the intelligence committee except Senator John Warner of Virginia, who is also chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Warner suggested in comments last week that he feared that lawmakers were moving hastily in restructuring the intelligence community and that it might be dangerous for the Pentagon to lose control over intelligence agencies needed by soldiers on the battlefield.

But another Republican on the committee, Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, said in a telephone interview Sunday that he supported Mr. Roberts's proposal.

"My understanding is that it has good support on the committee based on the informal conversations I have had with members over the last several weeks," he said. "This bill matches, I think, the desires of the vast majority of the members of the Senate intelligence committee to address the longstanding problems.''

Shawna Stribling, spokeswoman for Senator Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, another Republican on the committee, said Mr. Bond supported the legislation and believed it would "help prevent another 9/11." According to a statement released by Mr. Roberts outlining his bill, the legislation would make these changes:

¶Establish the office of national intelligence director, who would have even more authority than was envisioned by the 9/11 commission in its final report. The intelligence director would have "complete budget and personnel authority, including hiring and firing authority," over the government's spy operations, including "the national intelligence collection agencies currently residing in the Department of Defense." The Pentagon's spy services include the National Security Agency, which gathers intelligence through satellites and other electronic eavesdropping.

¶Break up the C.I.A. into three parts: a National Clandestine Service, which would direct traditional human spy operations; an Office of National Assessments, which would be responsible for intelligence analysis; and an Office of Technical Support, which would be responsible for research and development projects. The new agencies would report to the national intelligence director through a small team of deputies.

¶Remove the Defense Intelligence Agency's human-intelligence spy operations from the Pentagon and establish them as an independent agency, also under the control of the national intelligence director.

¶Provide the national intelligence director, through one of his assistants, with "direct control over the F.B.I.'s counterintelligence and counterterrorism units," which would continue to operate within the F.B.I. "for administration and support purposes and would still be subject to attorney general guidelines."

¶Provide the national intelligence director with "complete budget and personnel authority over the intelligence units of Treasury, Energy, Homeland Security, State Department and the remaining analytical elements of the C.I.A." Those agencies would "report to their home agencies on a day-to-day basis to maintain their analytical independence."

Also appearing on CBS, Senator Roberts said he and the bill's other Republican supporters "just sort of stepped back from the trees and, instead of worrying about boxes and agencies and turf, just said, What would you put together now that really represents an answer to what the 9/11 commission has recommended and what our Senate report has indicated?"

He was referring to the intelligence committee's blistering report made public last month that found that the C.I.A. had misrepresented the intelligence that the Bush administration used to take the nation to war in Iraq last year.

"I expect a lot of debate, should be a lot of debate," Mr. Roberts said, adding that he was open to rethinking parts of his legislation. "It is not a tablet, you know, coming down from a mountain, written in stone."

[Casloy]

Let's see, they don't communicate well with other goverment agencies, so let's split them apart so they won't even communicate well with each other. Now there is a plan.

[gunnygail]

Obviously, a DIM-O-WIT proposed that one. Can our reps get ANY DUMBER?

[ConservativeMan55]

LOL!

Lets break em up into a million pieces!

BUT...Matt Drudge made the point last night that he doesn't think its a good idea to have ONE person in charge of all intelligence.

He said imagine a Kerry or Clinton White House with all that power.

[SmithPatterson]

The CIA would be better off if Congress would just leave it alone. Let Porter Goss have a chance at cleaning up the operation then they can discuss Roberts plan.

[gunnygail]

Agreed. Once they get rid of all of the PC crap and start letting agents and support personnel call it LIKE THEY SEE IT w/o a bunch of garbage from wannabe's like Hanoi John and Feinstein, WE WILL ALL be better off.

[af_vet_rr]

Let's see, they don't communicate well with other goverment agencies, so let's split them apart so they won't even communicate well with each other. Now there is a plan.

Not only that, but they get to add two more government agencies, which means more federal employees. Brilliant.

[RicocheT]

This is the wrong time and the wrong way to reform how intelligence is administered in the US government.

We are in the middle of a shooting war with terrorists who want us all dead and gone. Intel can't wait for "reform" as our military personnel's lives are at risk. We are going to face Red China very soon over Taiwan.

The political campaign makes every move a big issue to yell and criticize. The 9/11 Commission's recommendations, may have merit, but a political election year rarely results in good laws or good government moves.


Sen. Roberts should shut his yap and let the process go slow.

[Casloy]

Well, the president always has power over all Intelligence Agencies, as it should be. No matter how bad it was having Clinton in charge of it, it is preferable to having Intelligence Agencies that answer to no one.