Senate chairman unveils intelligence reform proposal

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Sunday unveiled a sweeping new intelligence reform proposal that would transfer sections of the CIA and intelligence agencies controlled by the Defense Department to the direct control of a new national intelligence director.

As described by the senator on CBS's "Face the Nation" and in media reports Monday, Roberts' proposal envisions a national intelligence director that would oversee all 15 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community. The new director would have full budgetary and personnel authority for the agencies, including the ability to reprogram and transfer funding and line item budget authority.

Roberts has also proposed that the director lead a new National Intelligence Service, which would be made up of existing sections of the CIA and several intelligence agencies controlled by the Pentagon. Four deputy directors would be directly in charge of collection, analysis, military support and research and technology branches, according to reports.

The three main directorates of the CIA - Operations, which is responsible for information collection and covert operations; Intelligence, which handles analysis; and Science and Technology - would be converted into separate agencies and placed into their respective branches of the new intelligence service. From the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency's human intelligence program would be placed under the military support deputy director, according to reports.

Roberts' proposal, contained in the 9/11 National Security Protection Act, would go far beyond the national intelligence director recommended by the Sept. 11 commission and supported, in part, by the White House. Much of the debate between the commission and the White House and the discussions in Congress over the new national intelligence director have mainly focused on what levels of budgetary and personnel authority to provide to the position.

In addition, Pentagon officials have expressed concern in recent congressional hearings that a national intelligence director could hinder the ability of battlefield commanders to receive necessary information.

"We just sort of stepped back from the trees, and instead of worrying about boxes and agencies and turf, just said, what would you put together now that really represents an answer to what the 9/11 commission has recommended, and what our Senate report has indicated, what is right for our national security, what is real reform?" Roberts said on "Face the Nation."

Roberts said that his bill has the support of the other Republican members of the Senate intelligence panel and that reactions from several members of the Sept. 11 committee have been "positive." He added that he planned to share his proposal with the White House and the National Security Council and that he expected the Sept. 11 commission to decide as a whole whether to endorse the plan by the end of the week.

"I'm trying to build a consensus around something that is very different. It's very major. It's very bold. But let's get it out on the table and let's talk about it," Roberts said.

He also anticipated criticism.

"It's not a tablet written in stone. If anybody wants to make changes, or if anybody wants to lob a brickbat or two, we're perfectly ready," Roberts said.

In response, a senior intelligence official Monday said Roberts' proposal is "reckless" and "makes no sense."

"Rather than bringing disciplines together," the official said, "it smashes them apart."

"Having brickbats lobbed at it is not an adequate response to this proposal. It deserves a wrecking ball," the official told Global Security Newswire.

The proposal also came under fire from the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.

"It evidently would do away with the Central Intelligence Agency as we know it at a time when the agency is leading a global fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. Having not seen the details of the Roberts proposal, my reaction is that disbanding and scattering the Central Intelligence Agency at such a crucial time would be a severe mistake," Rockefeller said Sunday in a press statement.

Rockefeller and other Democratic members of the Senate intelligence panel also complained of having little input in the proposal.

"It's much, much better that we proceed on a bipartisan basis," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said on "Face the Nation."

Rand Beers, national security adviser for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry , said in a statement that Roberts' proposal was "very similar" to the intelligence reform measures supported by Kerry. The proposal, though, "needs to become bipartisan to be fully successful," Beers said.

He also called on the Bush administration to fully define its own vision for the new national intelligence director.

"Nothing will happen until President [George W.] Bush steps up to show leadership in this effort. So far, this has been severely lacking," Beers said.