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For Immediate Release
July 16, 2004
Kerry Calls for Reform of Intelligence Services
Nearly Three Years After 9/11, Intelligence Problems Not Fixed
Washington, DC - Senator John Kerry today released the following
statement on the urgent need to strengthen our intelligence operations
so that we are doing everything possible to keep America safe:
"Last week, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued a
scathing indictment of the intelligence that President Bush used to go
to war in Iraq. Next week, the 9/11 Commission will report on its
findings. The United States faces fundamental issues about the way we
collect, analyze and utilize intelligence, and these reports deserve our
serious attention.
"As President, I will strengthen our intelligence capability so that we
can more effectively prevent, not just respond to, another terrorist
attack.
"Nearly three years after the 9/11 attacks, many of the major
intelligence problems still have not been corrected - such as the lack
of an effective single, integrated watch list, which allowed two of the
9/11 terrorists to enter the country despite being on a CIA list of
suspected terrorists.
"Many hard-working patriotic people who work in the intelligence
community are trying to fix these vulnerabilities. But the only way it's
going to get done is through leadership from the president.
Presidential leadership is essential to breaking through bureaucratic
obstacles and setting national priorities.
"As Commander-in-Chief, the president must take responsibility for what
takes place on his watch. And most importantly, he must take action to
ensure that our nation's vulnerabilities are corrected. Yet, from
ignoring long-standing recommendations of the head of his own Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board to providing less than one-third of the
funds our intelligence services requested for key counter-terrorism
programs, this president has still not done what is necessary to keep
America safe.
"As president, I will move quickly to ensure that our intelligence
services are operating at the highest possible level. Intelligence
services play an absolutely essential role in identifying potential
terrorists and terrorist threats so we can act before it is too late.
"As president, I will restore the credibility of our intelligence
community by ensuring the basic integrity of the intelligence process.
Our intelligence personnel serve our nation with great dedication, often
doing an incredibly difficult job at significant personal risk. We
should honor their service by ensuring that they are able to live up to
their duty to "speak truth to power". To get the most accurate
information possible, we must assure diversity of thought and dissent,
forceful challenging of assumptions and better use of open source,
publicly available information. We must also keep those experts who do
analysis fully separated from those who conduct operations, while
maintaining full transparency about the information analysts use. As
president, I will insist that they be allowed to operate independently,
without political pressure or bias.
"As president, I will be guided by the following three principles to
reform our intelligence services:
"First, strengthen leadership and accountability. As president, I will
strengthen leadership and clarify lines of responsibility by giving one
individual overall authority for all intelligence operations. As I have
recommended, and General Brent Scowcroft also urged, we need to create a
true Director of National Intelligence with the ability to manage and
direct the myriad components of the intelligence community, including
authority over the budget, operations, personnel and the exchange of
information. The creation of such a cabinet-level position will not in
itself solve every problem, but it will be an important first step.
"Second, maximize coordination and integration. As president, I will
ensure greater coordination of information, expertise, and resources so
that our intelligence services are better integrated to combat threats.
The intelligence community should be organized around issues or targets
such as terrorism, proliferation or hostile countries. Drawing from
throughout the community, we must place personnel in issue-oriented task
forces with access to all available information. Efficient use of modern
technologies should help facilitate this process of virtual integration
with a minimum of bureaucratic reorganization. This approach has worked
well in the military, and there is legislation pending in Congress that
would apply the same model to breakdown organizational barriers and draw
the intelligence community more closely together.
"Third, transform intelligence services to deal with today's threats. I
will ensure that our intelligence services have sufficient personnel
with the skills, languages, training and orientation needed to meet
today's and tomorrow's threats -- terrorism, particularly nuclear,
biological and chemical weapons terrorism. This starts at home by making
sure that the FBI is fully prepared to perform necessary
counter-terrorism operations. Steps have been taken towards
establishing greater domestic intelligence capabilities within the FBI.
But further changes are needed, such as accelerating the creation of a
fully separate professional track for domestic intelligence within the
FBI in order to ensure a dedicated, domestic focus on intelligence. And
we must also strengthen our capabilities overseas, particularly our
clandestine services, so that we have our own robust human intelligence
network and are never again forced into over-reliance on foreign
intelligence agencies for crucial information.
"Strengthening our intelligence capabilities is essential to keeping our
country safe. Real reform will require presidential leadership and
genuine bipartisan cooperation."
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