NYT: Kerry Outlines Plans to Improve Intelligence Gathering

[DeepModem Mom]

Kerry Outlines Plans to Improve Intelligence Gathering
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER

Published: July 17, 2004


WASHINGTON, July 16 - John Kerry said Friday that if elected president he would more than double the number of American agents overseas, link the various intelligence agencies at every level and under one national intelligence director, and ensure that dissenting views could rise from the ranks so the nation did not go to war because of bad information....

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Mr. Kerry's call for a far bigger increase (than George Tenet has called for) would doubtless cheer some in the intelligence community, though some members of Congress, noting its recent failures, have suggested that the spy agency needs to get better before it gets bigger.

Mr. Kerry's proposal for a cabinet-level director of national intelligence, with a 10-year term, like that of the F.B.I. director, would probably receive a cooler reception at the C.I.A. The new officer would have control over budgets and personnel at the C.I.A., the National Security Administration, the Defense Intelligence Agency and a number of other spy agencies. But installing a new layer above the C.I.A. director would severely limit his power, and is strongly opposed within the agency.

Regarding the F.B.I., Mr. Kerry broke with his running mate, Senator John Edwards, who in the Democratic primaries embraced a proposal to create a separate domestic intelligence agency, outside of the F.B.I. and without its law-enforcement functions, using the model of the British service MI-5.

Mr. Kerry said he backed an alternative idea to create an "agency within an agency" at the F.B.I. Proponents of this idea argue that the F.B.I. would resist the creation of a separate new agency and that setting up from scratch would take too long. They also argue that F.B.I. agents are typically rewarded and promoted primarily for making arrests, rather than for gathering intelligence. Mr. Kerry said he would make a separate career track for agents working in domestic intelligence or counterintelligence....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/17/politics/campaign/17kerry.html

[IndianaGreen]

1. It is clear that the current system does not work

and it has failed us miserably several times, from 9/11 to Iraq.

This is an issue that deserves thoughtful consideration and a long lengthy debate after Bush is defeated this November. I welcome Kerry's rejection of Edwards's proposal for an American MI5.

I am not sure if I am prepared to endorse Kerry's proposals, but I think Kerry must be commended for his well-thought out views.

Remember that the power you give government to do the things you want it to do, can also be used by that government to do things that you don't want it to do.

[Larkspur]

2. The real problem was leadership in the FBI.

Freeh who ran the FBI under Clinton constantly fought upgrading the computer equipment that would have helped the FBI locate the 9/11 terrorists sooner. Congress kept granting the millions of dollars to upgrade the computer equipment but Freeh was more of the old gumshoe detective mentality. Even Reno sent Freeh a letter telling him to upgrade the computer equipment, but Freeh didn't bother with it.

The system has problems, but they are made worse by poor leadership by the heads of the bureaucracy.