President's Terrorism Czar Lacks Real Power

Contrary to the advice of the bi-partisan 9/11 Commission, President Bush yesterday proposed creating a new national intelligence director with no real power. Rather than devising a post with the legal and budgetary capacity to direct the nation's counterterrorism efforts, as the commission recommends, the president has proposed a hollow bureaucratic position with little capacity to fight terrorism and protect the nation.

• The president's proposed intelligence director will have no budgetary or personnel control and will have no power to direct intelligence operations. The 9/11 Commission unanimously concluded that the only way that a new intelligence chief could gain control over the nation's 15 separate intelligence agencies is to empower the position with full budgetary control; full authority over personnel; and full legal authority to order clandestine operations and intelligence collections. Instead of giving the new post the power it needs, President Bush has proposed a position with no teeth.
• The Bush administration has done nothing on intelligence reform since 9/11. The president's transparent efforts to shore up his counterterrorism record in an election year highlight his administration's failure to understand what went wrong on 9/11 and act accordingly to revamp the nation's intelligence system.
• This is more about politics than sound national security strategy. Bush administration officials have admitted that election year politics matter more than real counterterrorism efforts. As the New York Times reports today, "White House and Bush campaign officials have long said that the details matter far less than the pictures and sounds of Mr. Bush talking in any way about his campaign against terrorism."

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