Senator decries agency coordination in Iraq, Afghanistan

Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., sent letters Wednesday night to Cabinet secretaries and other top-level Bush administration officials expressing concern for what he views as a lack of interagency cooperation and coordination in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the letter, Warner asked the officials to review their agencies' current and future involvement in the two fledgling democracies. He also requested a report by April 10 outlining their plans to implement a Dec. 7 presidential directive addressing the management of interagency reconstruction and stabilization efforts.

"I believe it is imperative that we leverage the resident expertise in all federal departments and agencies of our government to address the complex problems facing the emerging democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan," Warner wrote.

A moderate who has at times been critical of Bush administration policies, Warner lauded the White House for issuing the December directive. But he warned that organizational change has been slow, and that the government still is "not adequately organized to conduct interagency operations."

Warner offered in his letter to work with the White House to sponsor legislation to help dismantle bureaucratic barriers that impede an "integrated national response."

During a Senate Armed Services hearing this morning, Gen. John Abizaid, the U.S. Central Command commander who oversees operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, reiterated many of Warner's concerns, and stressed the need for effective interagency operations.

"Substantially more work is needed for increased interagency coordination at higher levels of government and for ensuring unity of effort," he said. The military, Abizaid added, needs "significantly more" civilian personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to assist in agriculture, economic development programs and civil affairs, among other areas.