Posted on 12/06/2004 10:33:04 AM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
The National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 remains stalled due to disagreements between House and Senate Republicans over the content of the bill. House Speaker Dennis Hastert withdrew the bill after House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, voiced their strong objections to the legislation at a closed meeting of House Republicans on November 20. The main feature of the bill is to create a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to manage the CIA and 14 other agencies of the U.S. intelligence community. But as always, the devil is in the details.
The bill is promoted as the implementation of the 9/11 Commission´s recommendations. Yet, the measures Sensenbrenner wants in the bill came out of the 9/11 report, only to be cut by the Senate for reasons that had nothing to do with nation security. Sensenbrenner wants the federal government to set standards for driver's licenses to make them more secure and less liable to exploitation by terrorists, as well as by other criminals. This recommendation can be found on page 390 of the 9/11 report, emphasized in bold type. Driver's licenses are the most widely used photo ID cards and can give an illegal alien the appearance of being legitimate. They have become the de facto national identity card . Verifying that an individual is legally authorized to be in the country helps ensure the integrity of state-issued driver´s licenses. A "legal presence" law was passed by Virginia last year to end the issuance of driver´s licenses to illegal aliens because seven of the 9/11 hijackers had gotten Virginia licenses. While 40 states now have some sort of legal presence requirements, Federal legislation is still needed so that all states will adhere to the same standard. Sensenbrenner also wants to toughen criminal penalties for using or trading false identification documents.
Rep. Sensenbrenner also wants to tighten up the procedures around the U.S. asylum system and make it easier to detain and deport suspected terrorists. As the 9/11 Commission's staff report on terrorist travel noted, "Immigration cases against suspected terrorists were often mired for years in bureaucratic struggles over alien rights and the adequacy of evidence." During this time, the suspected terrorists are often free on bond, able to continue their plots.
To improve security at the border, Rep. Sensenbrenner wants to add at least 2,000 new border patrol agents, 800 new interior enforcement investigators, and 150 additional consular officials overseas. He also wants to tighten controls on asylum-seekers tied to guerrilla, militant, or terrorist organizations. Just because someone declares themselves to be an enemy of the state (either overseas or in the United States) does not mean they are victims of "persecution," which is the legal basis for providing asylum.
Rep. Hunter supports Sensenbrenner´s initiatives. Prior to the last round of Congressional redistricting, Hunter had the California-Mexican border in his district and was always working to improve security, including bolstering the Border Patrol. Hunter, however, has other concerns about the bill, specifically regarding how intelligence gathering and dissemination should be managed. His principle concern is that by placing the control and budget authority for even the military´s tactical intelligence assets with the new DNI, the troops on the battlefield will be short-changed because their tactical missions and needs are too far removed from the strategic focus of the new organization.
At the core of the dispute is control over the high-tech assets of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Reconnaissance Office which control the spy satellites that are critical to military operations. Hunter wants to make sure that when a field commander needs to see what´s on "the other side of the hill," he can get access to the information through his chain of command in the Pentagon and not be side-tracked or put on a waiting list by the DNI.
"In a military situation, being confused about the chain of command is a dangerous thing," Hunter told The Associated Press. "I was asked to give my opinion to the conference and the leadership, and it was having a bill with that part of the bill — the chain of command — pulled out of it would cause confusion and more casualties on the battlefield." Hunter added a personal note, "Having a son who just came back from a second tour in Fallujah, those are the folks I care about." Hunter´s son enlisted in the Marines right after 9/11. Hunter himself was an Army Ranger who fought in Vietnam. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard Myers, sent a letter in support of Hunter´s position, which is believed also to be the view of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
There are other kinds of intelligence that the military also needs funds to develop. Examples were given by Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), at a conference November 15. To deal with modern threats, the DIA intends to supply more extensive information, not just the kind of data needed to put bombs on targets. "Our battalion commanders in Iraq need information on cultural, tribal and other kinds of characteristics for the problem they´re dealing with." said Jacoby. The DIA needs to find ways to identify and target small groups or individual terrorists or insurgents "that are barely distinguishable" from civilian populations. Methods are needed to spot plants that make weapons of mass destruction. "Greater use of underground facilities is also complicating our intelligence collection and targeting," said Jacoby. There also are intangible new needs, such as knowledge of foreign cultures and the ability to distinguish between ethnic groups, tribes and clans — and understanding which are neutral, hostile, or supportive toward U.S. policies. "Meeting the coming challenges will require us to expand our definition of ‘precision strike´ to one that encompasses highly detailed and timely data and knowledge for a broader range of military operations, from conventional force-on-force engagement to counter-proliferation, counterterrorism and stabilization efforts," Jacoby said .
The driving force behind reforming the intelligence community is to counter the kind of terrorism attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001. One of the major new institutions to be established by the bill under the DNI is a National Counterterrorism Center. Yet, terrorism is only one part of the many international challenges that the intelligence community must monitor, evaluate, and perhaps respond to. An overemphasis on terrorism could starve other critical missions of resources, and not just those of the battlefield commanders Hunter is worried about. Rogue states and rising powers (like China) have more capabilities to do harm to the United States than do ad hoc extremist groups. Terrorists must be vigorously combated, because they are plotting to kill Americans, but other missions must also be mounted by the agencies best suited to the tasks.
The White House has shown more willingness to compromise with Hunter and the Pentagon than with Sensenbrenner. Indeed, the White House originally tried to get the Senate to adopt chain of command rules that Hunter has agreed are sufficient to alleviate his concerns. The Senate conferees, however, want to give the DNI full authority.
In regard to border security, it must be remembered that the Bush Administration has opposed increased enforcement on the Mexican border, and has even proposed what amounts to an amnesty for millions of aliens who have crossed illegally into the country. The White House supports the Senate position that the House language be stripped from the bill. The claim that Sensenbrenner´s proposals can be voted on as separate legislation is an obvious ploy to kill the proposals as the Senate will not pass them as free standing legislation. The only way to enact tighter border security methods is as part of this larger bill.
There is no need to rush its enactment during the lame duck session of Congress. The obvious failures of intelligence coordination between agencies, primarily between the CIA and FBI, need to be addressed in a measured way that does not cause more problems that it solves. Critical to this debate should be an awareness that many of the needed changes have already been implemented, as evidenced by the successes in the war on terrorism over the last three years. Those politicians and "talking heads"who are demagoging the bill, ignoring the many substantial changes already made and saying we are abetting the terrorists if we do not pass this version now, are doing the country a major disservice. And Porter Goss, the new Director of Central Intelligence (a post originally created to do the same kind of coordination as the proposed DNI), has started a major shakeup of the CIA. Trying to reinvent the wheel with a new layer of bureaucracy may not be the best approach.
If a good intelligence reform bill – i.e., one that includes the Sensenbrenner and Hunter provisions – cannot be written this week, Congress should return to the issue next year when it can consider the provisions without the emotional pressure to "reform" for the sake of reform. All too often, Congress rushes through bad legislation so that Members can claim to their constituents that they have "fixed the problem." This bill does not fully achieve that objective, and should be set aside until next year unless the Sensenbrenner and Hunter concerns are met.
Sen. Kit Bond (R) last Tuesday:
"I think there are enough questions about this bill that we ought to come back and do it right next year"
Congressional switchboard: 1-877-762-8762
White house comment line:
1-202-456-1111
President@whitehouse.gov
"Political correctness is the handmaiden of terrorism"
Michelle Malkin
Don't suppose that GWB is pushing the "good bill" through now while he has a more liberal Senate, do you?
ping
How many in the Congress can say that? How many in the White House (guards excluded...)?
Duncan Hunter's concerns are the concerns of someone who knows the reality, not East Coast college kids writing policy papers.
Amen.
Lame duck laws are sooooo...lame.
Jorge should take the hint from his field commanders in the Congress and postpone the battle. Until the forces of light can overcome the forces of darkness...
Tom Tancredo coming up on Judy Woodruff/CNN...any minute now.
bttt
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