Senate defeats amendment to expand security council

The Senate on Thursday defeated a plan to add the attorney general, proposed Homeland Security secretary and FBI director to the membership of the National Security Council.

The 48-49 vote came on an amendment that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest (Fritz) Hollings, D-S.C., offered to the bill to create a Homeland Security Department.

Hollings said his proposal was necessary to breach the "intelligence failure" between the CIA and the FBI.

Under current law, the NSC consists of the president, vice president, and secretaries of State and Defense, with the director of central intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff serving as statutory advisors.

Referring to a 1954 commission highlighting FBI/CIA coordination, a Hollings spokesman said: "The problems we had in communication ... were the same then as they are now. Sen. Hollings believes that changes to the NSC are how you fix it at the highest level."