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| 2 congressmen think small, leaving nation at risk |
| 2004-11-23 |
| When the nation is under attack, citizens normally rally together. Differences are set aside to pursue common goals. The days after 9/11 provided many such moments. Neighbor joined neighbor. Republicans and Democrats buried politics temporarily. Even rival nations joined Americans in their grief. But more than three years later on Capitol Hill, a pair of powerful Republican lawmakers still don't seem to grasp that spirit. Last Saturday, they stood in the way of reforming the nation's broken intelligence system - obstructing a plan endorsed by just about every major player in Washington to address weaknesses that contributed to the 9/11 attacks. Today, because of their stubbornness, the nation remains more vulnerable to terrorism than it could be. Barely anyone argues that the splintered intelligence system isn't flawed. Fifteen disparate agencies follow their own agendas. No one is in charge. This jumble is overseen by eight congressional committees. And 80% of the budget is controlled by the Pentagon (news - web sites), even though the war on terrorism increases the need for non-military intelligence. All 10 members of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, which studied the failings that led to 9/11, endorsed the same fix: a single, director with authority over all of the intelligence agencies and their budgets. The common-sense changes won support even among usually vehement foes. In the Senate, the GOP majority joined Democrats to approve the overhaul, 96 to 2. President Bush endorsed the plan. Groups of 9/11 families plied the corridors of the Capitol to lobby for it. A majority of House members support it, according to several analysts, who say the plan would have passed had it gotten to a vote. But that didn't happen. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #6 should be "ask Woolsey" |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-11-23 4:34:46 PM |
| #5 Any chance of a well deserved "barf alert" on this title? Hunter and Sensenbrenner are trying to de-bs the 9/11 Commission -- commissioners who are all retreads/retards. 9/11 Commission is the problem not the solution, just as Woolsey. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-11-23 4:33:26 PM |
| #4 "leaving nation at risk", eh? We'd be less at risk if we razed the CIA entirely. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-23 11:14:35 AM |
| #3 I listened to Hunter on Fox. His point was the Washington bureaucracy was going to be inserted between the satellite gathering and the user - the troops on the ground as in Iraq. I know back in Gulf One, the data was piped that way and the Pentagon spent the next 10 years to make the data as directly accessible by the boys fighting the battle. The natural tendency of bureaucracies is to accumulate power and control, all too often of the expense of the users in the fields [a matter of an FBI agent and the people in Washington concerning Arabs taking flight lessons comes to mind]. Rep. Hunter wanted the bill to be structured to insure that nothing would get between the satellite sensors and the users. |
| Posted by: Don 2004-11-23 10:55:19 AM |
| #2 Here is a pretty solid rebuttal to this MSM propaganda from the WSJ:(may have to register) http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/bminiter/?id=110005931 |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2004-11-23 10:51:14 AM |
| #1 no agenda in the way this op/ed article was written, nosirree. Why is illegal alien DL's not a valid issue? Why are Hunter's concerns not worth addressing? His committee's control of the pentagon budget would hardly be dented by this minor chg - that's a canard to attack him. USA Today's no source for serious news |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-23 10:04:47 AM |