Official: Terrorist threat center big enough for all personnel
CIA official had said at hearing that the new TTIC, which includes CIA, FBI, DHS and Secret Service, may not have enough room.
The Terrorist Threat Integration Center's new headquarters is big enough to accommodate all personnel assigned to it and should be fully staffed by the end of September, an official close to the center said Monday.
During a congressional hearing last week, senior government officials said the new headquarters did not have enough space for all CIA personnel. Located in northern Virginia, the center includes analysts from the CIA's Counterterrorist Center and the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, along with personnel from the Homeland Security Department and Secret Service.
"One of the other issues you should take note of is that there isn't sufficient space there for the entire center that I manage," Philip Mudd, deputy director of the CIA Counterterrorist Center, told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. "So one of the difficulties we'll have, but I think this is a difficulty we can overcome, is managing in two places about three miles apart … I think co-location is underrated in terms of the importance for cooperation."
A U.S. official who asked to remain anonymous said Monday, however, that all personnel that need to locate at TTIC will fit in the new building. The government has a three-phase plan to fully staff the center, the official said. TTIC staff has already moved in, while personnel from the CIA and FBI counterterrorism units will move in by the end of September.
According to the official, the CIA never planned to move more than half of its counterterrorist center into he new site. The other half will remain at CIA headquarters about three miles away.
"They are being accommodated," the official said. "What the building was planned to do is all being accomplished."
The hearing was held to evaluate recommendations from the Sept. 11 commission, which released its final report last month and concluded that a massive reorganization of the intelligence community is needed.
Specifically, the commission recommended the creation of a new national counterterrorism center and appointment of a national intelligence director to oversee the government's 15 intelligence agencies. President Bush announced last week he supports those two key recommendations, though he did not say the new director would have budget authority and the power to hire and fire key personnel.
The commission said the new counterterrorism center would build on the work that has gone into creating TTIC, and eventually replace TTIC. Some senators said during the hearing, however, that they believed TTIC might be able to become the robust center that the commission envisions.
"I cannot see a dime's worth of difference," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., "between what the president endorsed yesterday and what TTIC … was created to achieve over a year ago."