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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, December 12, 2004

Intelligence reform a work in progress

As we now all know, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, exposed craters in America's spy network, including intelligence agencies missing such clues as foreign students who wanted to learn to fly jumbo jets but not land them.

That left us woefully unprepared for the strikes on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

So how are we fixing this to make America safer?

Congress last week passed an intelligence reform bill that creates a national counterterrorism center, tightens passenger and baggage screening at airports, strengthens requirements for visa applications, and funds 2,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 800 immigration and customs agents every year for the next five years.

The centerpiece of the legislation, however, is creation of a new national intelligence director, who will be in charge of the CIA, the FBI and 13 other intelligence agencies. Theoretically, this intelligence czar will put a stop to the rivalry and confusion exposed by the 9/11 commission, and will direct a more cohesive anti-terrorism effort. He should be able to see the big picture.

But how effective can the new spy chief be with the Pentagon controlling 80 percent of the estimated $40-billion-a-year intelligence budget as the bill mandates? That's a lot of purse-string power.

Moreover, with so many intelligence directors added to the administration, one has to wonder who will best brief the president — the intelligence czar, the CIA director or the director of the new counterterrorism center?

And let's face it, an intelligence czar is only as good as the intelligence gatherers on the ground. This requires rigorous training, especially in such languages as Arabic, Farsi, Pashto and Urdu.

Plus, there's cause to believe that the Pentagon won't easily loosen its grip. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld strongly opposed reforms that would diminish his power.

Rivalries and turf battles are what got us into trouble before 9/11. What we need now is an intelligence leadership that is independent from the administration. We don't need more spy chiefs with unreliable intelligence telling politicians what they want to hear.

This hastily passed legislation provides a framework for reform, but is hardly a solution in itself.