Intelligence Director Urged to Take Charge

House Committee Cites 'Chronic Problems'

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence wants the new director of national intelligence, retired Adm. Mike McConnell, to assume a greater managerial role to correct what it describes as gaps in what is known about enemies and threats and to close those gaps "as quickly as possible."

In a report released on the eve of a House vote on the roughly $48 billion intelligence authorization bill for fiscal 2008, the committee says it is concerned that McConnell "has not taken a consistent approach on whether [he] will serve as coordinator or executor of intelligence community functions."

The committee wants plans for solving "chronic problems" facing the 15 agencies within the intelligence community -- including the development of greater foreign-language capability, diversity among personnel, additional information sharing, less overclassification and common security practices.

Early today, the House approved the bill by a vote of 225 to 197, after members concerned about the proposed growth of McConnell's office voted to limit its size to the number of employees working there as of May 1.

The committee report also criticizes progress being made on the future architecture of the U.S. space intelligence satellites, saying a problem has been "festering for some time" because of cost overruns and delays in completing projects.

As a remedy, the panel added funds to bridge the gap between the new and old generations of satellites in order to "prevent a future capability gap." The bill would also grant new authority to McConnell's deputy director for science and technology to prioritize research and development projects by intelligence agencies.

The classified portion of the bill includes increased funds for the training of additional clandestine officers for the CIA and the Pentagon and for more overseas analysts. At the same time, it would strengthen the internal and external oversight of covert action programs.

Committee Democrats emphasized the impact that Iraq has had on the worldwide intelligence collection on terrorism. The report says that "as intelligence requirements have grown for Iraq, resources have been drained from the global fight against al-Qaeda." Citing the finite amount of resources that the intelligence community has, the panel believes assets could be better spent rebuilding informant networks and finding links among terrorist cells, according to House sources.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate intelligence panel, has publicly called Iraq a "distraction" for the intelligence community from the battle against terrorism. During yesterday's debate, Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), former ranking Democrat on the House intelligence panel, agreed. "We have taken our eye off the ball," she said, adding that al-Qaeda is expanding around the world while the U.S. focus is on Iraq.

Republicans took issue with the majority on this question. "It should be beyond dispute that the struggle against radical jihadists is a global and unified one, and that Iraq is a critical front -- a front that al Qaeda itself has specifically stated as its priority," they say in the report.

The committee's report previews the fight brewing over the administration's proposal to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs the controversial domestic terrorist surveillance program. In committee, Democrats defeated a Republican attempt to add the FISA legislation to the bill. In the report, the Democrats say that before it moves on the administration's FISA changes, "it is essential that the president provide some measure of assurance that were he to sign a bill modifying FISA into law, he would agree to be bound by it."