| Page 2 of 2 < |
Intel Chief Changing 1981 Security Order
Reagan's executive order was signed Dec. 4, 1981. It incorporated parts of earlier presidential orders and laid a foundation for the intelligence community by providing a roadmap for each agencies' responsibilities.
"It is sort of the basic rule book for running the intelligence community," specifying who is part of it and what their roles are, said Jeffrey Richelson, a senior fellow with the National Security Archive and an expert on presidential intelligence directives. "It is certainly outdated in that ... you have elements of the intelligence community that weren't in it when this thing was written."
  Mike McConnell speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington in this Jan. 5, 2007 file photo during his nomination by President Bush to director of National Intelligence. The national intelligence director has won White House approval to begin revising an executive order that lays out each spy agency's responsibilities and the government's protections against spying on Americans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File) (Gerald Herbert - AP) 
| ||||||||||||||||||||
For instance, the order doesn't discuss the powers of the national intelligence director, created by Congress in late 2004 to oversee all U.S. spy agencies in response to the intelligence failures of 9/11 and prewar Iraq. Instead, the order directs intelligence agencies to respond to requests from the CIA director, who headed the intelligence community for decades before the creation of McConnell's office.
Among other flaws, the order doesn't reference two major defense spy agencies _ the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates spy satellites, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyzes imagery. Nor does it explain the FBI's domestic intelligence mission, which has gotten increasing attention since 9/11.
The order also created guidelines to prohibit spying on Americans. Senior intelligence officials say officers frequently refer to the order as they do their work around the globe.
But civil liberties advocates say the executive order isn't strong enough now because it didn't prevent the Bush administration from running controversial operations including the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program.
Lisa Graves, deputy director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the administration has pointed to the executive order as evidence that Americans are protected from government spying. But the order "doesn't provide adequate protection now for civil liberties. Any watering down would be problematic," she said.
___
On the Net:
Director of National Intelligence: http:/
Executive Order 12333:
http:/
html
