Key lesson of September the 11th, 2001, is that America's intelligence agencies must work together as a single, unified enterprise.
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 creates the position of director of national intelligence, or DNI, to be appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate.
The director will lead a unified intelligence community and will serve as the principal adviser to the president on intelligence matters. The DNI will have the authority to order the collection of new intelligence, to ensure the sharing of information among agencies and to establish common standards for the intelligence community's personnel.
BUSH: It will be the DNI's responsibility to determine the annual budgets for all national intelligence agencies and offices, and to direct how these funds are spent. These authorities vested in a single official who reports directly to me will make all our intelligence efforts better coordinated, more efficient and more effective.
The director of the CIA will report to the DNI.
The CIA will retain its core responsibilities for collecting human intelligence, analyzing intelligence from all sources and supporting American interests abroad at the direction of the president.
The new law will preserve the existing chain of command and leave all our intelligence agencies, organizations and offices in their current departments.
Our military commanders will continue to have quick access to the intelligence they need to achieve victory on the battlefield.
And the law supports our efforts to ensure greater information- sharing among federal departments and agencies, and also with appropriate state and local authorities.
BUSH: The many reforms of this act have a single goal: to ensure that the people in government responsible for defending America have the best possible information to make the best possible decisions.
The men and women of our intelligence community give America their very best every day and in return we owe them our full support.
As we continue to reform and strengthen the intelligence community, we will do all that is necessary to defend this people and the nation we serve.
I'm now pleased and honored to sign into law the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act Of 2004.
(APPLAUSE)
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