NYT- Delays on 9/11 Bill Are Laid to Pentagon

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 - A months-long, behind-the-scenes lobbying effort by the Pentagon to water down the powers of a new national intelligence director is largely responsible for a stalemate threatening to derail Congressional efforts to enact the major recommendations of the independent Sept. 11 commission, Congressional officials and commission members said Monday.


The Pentagon's continuing effort to influence the negotiations on Capitol Hill became public last week with the disclosure of a letter sent to a prominent House Republican by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard B. Myers.

General Myers contradicted the public stance of the White House and offered his support to provisions of a House bill written by Republicans that would limit the budget powers of a national intelligence director when it came to three large Pentagon spy agencies. While intelligence budgets are classified, at stake is control over an estimated $15 billion to $20 billion in intelligence spending by the agencies, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

The creation of a national intelligence director to coordinate the government's 15 intelligence agencies was the chief recommendation of the bipartisan Sept. 11 commission in its unanimous final report in July.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/26/politics/26panel.html?oref=login

[Supersedeas]

1. Pentagon $$ and Political security trump National Security