Chris Shays, R-Conn., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., will introduce a House version of plan to break up the CIA and rearrange the Pentagon's spy agencies under a single national intelligence director



Chris Shays, R-Conn., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., will introduce a House version of plan to break up the CIA and rearrange the Pentagon's spy agencies under a single national intelligence director

Roberts too bold for 9/11 panel

The Kansas senator's idea to revamp U.S. intelligence goes further than the Sept. 11 commission was prepared to go.

BY JESSE J. HOLLAND

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts' plan to break up the CIA and rearrange the Pentagon's spy agencies under a single national intelligence director is "very bold" and wasn't considered by the Sept. 11 commission because members saw it as too difficult, the commission's vice chairman said Tuesday.

"Maybe the question is how much change can the system tolerate," former Rep. Lee Hamilton told senators.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate announced they would push for adoption of all the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations for revamping the intelligence community.

"This bill would enact bold and comprehensive reform that changes the status quo, because the status quo in intelligence and diplomacy has failed us," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who introduced the 280-page legislation along with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Reps. Chris Shays, R-Conn., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., will introduce a House version.

However, Roberts, who is the Senate Intelligence chairman, wants Congress instead to transfer the nation's major intelligence gathering from the CIA and the Pentagon to control by a new national intelligence director, a plan he said Tuesday "has been deemed by some as radical and others as bold -- not as many 'bold' as 'radical.' "

But Hamilton did not reject Roberts' idea when asked about it at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, calling the idea "a very bold move. It's a lot bolder than we made."

"We just didn't look at it that boldly," Hamilton said. "What we said was the NID (national intelligence director) needs to control the budget of these groups, and we thought that was sufficient."

Congress is working on several different bills inspired by the Sept. 11 commission, making it unlikely that it will just accept legislation based strictly on the commission report.

Senate leaders said they hope to pass key provisions related to the Sept. 11 commission recommendations by October. "Time is of the essence," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said.
Contributing: Knight Ridder Newspapers

When this story was posted in September 2004, here was the front page of PCOL Magazine:

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview This month we sat down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before. Then read the questions and answers one by one and leave your comments on the issues raised during the interview including Infrastructure Upgrades and the new Situation Room at Headquarters, Is there a Budget Crunch this year at Peace Corps, Peace Corps' Long Term Expansion, the Changes to the Five-Year Rule made last year, Safety and Security Issues, the Cooperative Agreement with NPCA, RPCVs in Policy Making Positions at Peace Corps Headquarters, Peace Corps' Departure from Russia in 2002, Director Vasquez's Accomplishments as Director, the Peace Corps Safety and Security Bill before Congress, Continuity at the Agency during Changes in Administration, the Community College Program, and the Director's Message to the Returned Volunteer Community.

Read the stories and leave your comments.