9/11 commissioners: Presidential directives no substitute for intelligence reform law

Recent directives issued by President Bush to overhaul intelligence operations do not go far enough and are no substitute for laws enacted by Congress, former members of the 9/11 commission said Tuesday.

Renewing their call for lawmakers to pass a sweeping intelligence reform bill before the current congressional term ends next week, commission members said directives issued by Bush to make changes at the CIA, FBI and Pentagon are no substitute for legislation.

"The bill goes far beyond anything that any president can do by executive order, and the bill makes reforms permanent," said commission Chairman Thomas Kean, former Republican governor of New Jersey, during a press conference Tuesday.

Lee Hamilton, the commission's vice chairman and a former Democratic congressman from Indiana, agreed that legislation is the only way to ensure that changes stick.

"Executive orders come and they go. Policymakers come and they go," he said. "This is a great, big complicated government, and it is necessary to put into place the permanent institutional changes if you want to strengthen and enhance the intelligence community."

Bush issued three directives last week aimed at significantly increasing employment at the CIA, establishing a specialized national security workforce at the FBI, and exploring whether the Pentagon should take over responsibility for paramilitary operations now conducted by the CIA.

The president also issued an executive order during the summer that expanded the power of the CIA under its new chief, Porter Goss, former Republican congressman from Florida and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Goss also serves as director of the central intelligence community. In another executive order, Bush created a national counterterrorism center within the CIA.

The intelligence reform bill pending in Congress, however, would create a new national intelligence director with budget and personnel authority over the nation's 15 intelligence agencies. How much power the post would have has been a sticking point for congressional negotiators. The intelligence bill also would establish a national counterterrorism center with more power than the one created by the executive order.

Jamie Gorelick, one of five Democrats on the 9/11 commission, told reporters during a conference in Washington on Tuesday that the directives from Bush have been "helpful," but the provisions in the intelligence reform bill are "far superior" to anything the executive branch could do.

For example, placing the national counterterrorism center under the CIA creates a "disincentive" for other agencies to participate in it, she said. The center created by Bush does not have the power to coordinate across agencies either, according to Gorelick.

The national intelligence director and the national counterterrorism center must be higher in stature than the CIA in order to have the "leverage and power to bring other agencies into a more cooperative stance," she added.

The commission would not be likely to accept further compromises in the intelligence bill on powers for the national intelligence director, Gorelick continued. "We believe as much compromise as is prudent has already been made."

"I actually can't believe that this legislation won't pass, but I guess there's a serious possibility that it won't," she added.

Gorelick acknowledged, however, that certain recommendations from the commission are not in the intelligence bill, especially a plan to reorganize Congress and an emphasis on public diplomacy in the Muslim world.

"Congress is much better at reforming the executive branch than it is itself," she said. "In my personal view… if you wanted to do one thing to bring greater urgency to the executive branch, you would change oversight."