Senators express concerns about intelligence reorganization
At a hastily called hearing, they say 9/11 commission's push for change may cause turf battles, abuses of power.
Members of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee expressed concern Friday that overhauling the federal government might lead to major turf battles between agencies and possible abuses of power by the White House.
The committee held the first of several rare August congressional hearings to consider implementing recommendations made by the 9/11 commission. Earlier this month, the panel issued dozens of recommendations for reorganizing federal agencies, including the creation of a national intelligence director to oversee the government's 15 intelligence agencies and the creation of a national counterterrorism center.
"We came to a conclusion ... that the present system is unacceptable and doesn't work. It's just that simple; it does not work," said Thomas Kean, commission chairman and a former Republican governor of New Jersey. "And the American people will be less safe if we continue in the present structure than if we start to move to the kind of structure we've suggested."
Kean testified with former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired the commission. They said the U.S. intelligence community needs a wholesale reform similar to the military reform under the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act.
"The [intelligence] collection agencies should have the same mission as the Armed Services do. They should organize, train and equip their personnel," Hamilton said. "Those intelligence professionals, in turn, should be assigned to unified joint commands, or in the language of the intelligence community, 'joint mission centers.'"
Hamilton said one of the commission's major recommendations is that spy agencies should be able to share domestic and foreign intelligence.
"One of our principle feelings is that, in dealing with counterterrorism, you must get away from the division" between foreign and domestic intelligence, he said. "That's a prescription for disaster."
He added that the commission believes protecting civil liberties is "enormously important." Therefore, another recommendation is to create an oversight board within the executive branch to protect civil liberties and privacy rights.
Kean noted that all intelligence agencies would continue to operate as they do under the panel's recommendations. For example, the CIA still would be responsible for gathering foreign intelligence, and would not have powers to do domestic spying. Instead, the national intelligence director would coordinate activities between agencies and ensure that they are sharing information.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he is concerned about a recommendation that the national intelligence director operate out of the White House. He worried that placing the director in the White House might limit public oversight, lead to abuses of power, or hurt independent and objective analysis.
Hamilton agreed that the issue poses a "tremendous problem" but said the commission did not see anywhere else to put the director, given that person's roles and responsibilities to coordinate intelligence across agencies in different departments.
"I do not think our recommendations fundamentally change the balance of power with respect to the executive branch," Hamilton said.
Kean noted that the director would be subject to congressional hearings and Senate confirmation. The commission did not recommend that a term be set, meaning that the director would serve at the president's request. Some senators said they are evaluating whether a special term should be established for the position.
Several senators also expressed concern that implementing the recommendations will be met with resistance and turf battles between agencies.
"Power struggles for authority and responsibility, however well-motivated, cannot be allowed to doom needed reforms," said committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Sen. Richard Durbin, Ill., added during the hearing: "There seems to be, at the lower levels, bureaucratic resistance, turf protection, old stovepipes, and also the inability of us to think in fresh and modern terms about the potential of technology."