[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Putting Someone in Charge

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Putting Someone in Charge

July 31, 2004
 


 

One of the most important - and most satisfying - jobs in
Washington these days is being a moderate Republican in the
polarized and often paralyzed Senate. John McCain of
Arizona, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and
Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island have had enormous impact in
trying to drag their fellow Republicans back to the days of
fiscal responsibility. Yesterday, we were happy to see
Senator Collins on the job again as she convened the first
Congressional hearing on the 9/11 commission's
recommendations for overhauling America's intelligence
apparatus. 

Senator Collins immediately threw her considerable
political weight behind some of its most important
proposals. While other lawmakers have talked of not rushing
things (Capitolspeak for "Please wait until after I'm
re-elected"), Senator Collins told the 9/11 commission
chairman, Thomas Kean, and the vice chairman, Lee Hamilton,
that she supported creating a new post that would have the
actual authority to oversee the 15 disparate intelligence
agencies. 

Senator Collins and others on her panel seemed at least
receptive to another key proposal: creating a single
federal counterterrorism center. 

The fact that the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist,
authorized these extraordinary midsummer hearings was a
good sign from a Congressional leadership that has hardly
been distinguished for bipartisanship or statesmanship. But
there were also indications of the battles to come. 

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said ominously that
the "pressure's going to be tremendous" against upsetting
Washington's bureaucratic balance of power. And Mr. Kean
told a rather depressing anecdote about how the White House
had reacted to its private briefing on the commission's
report. A member of the president's staff noted that if the
new intelligence director was subject to Senate
confirmation, he or she would be required to testify about
the administration's deliberations on national security.
When Mr. Kean agreed, the official answered, "Well, you
know, that means they might not be included in every
conversation." 

It shouldn't surprise anyone by now that this White House
would be so determined to avoid accounting for its
decisions that it would react by cutting the intelligence
director out of sensitive conversations. Mr. Kean has had
firsthand experience with the administration's attempts to
block his commission's work. But that cannot become an
excuse for inaction. 

Ms. Collins and her committee have promised to draft
legislation before the end of September. Voters deserve
equally brisk action on the Congressional reforms proposed
by Mr. Kean's commission. 

That won't be easy because it will require bumping into
turf and seniority issues in both houses, but political
intransigence is no excuse for inaction. 

The public now needs to hear from Mr. Bush, who has had
time for a quick vacation at the ranch and some
campaigning, but has been silent on this vital topic since
Mr. Kean and Mr. Hamilton gave him a leatherbound copy of
their report in the Rose Garden over a week ago. Senator
John Kerry, the Democratic nominee, managed to absorb
enough of the report to announce in Boston on Thursday that
he would adopt the panel's recommendations. But the White
House says Mr. Bush's aides are still reviewing the
findings. 

The White House's daily insistence that it's already doing
a lot of what the report recommends is not very reassuring.


The 9/11 report made it clear that much, much more is
needed. Mr. Kean was as chilling as he was succinct on this
point. Nearly three years after the 9/11 attack revealed
the sad state of the intelligence community, he said, "I do
not find today anyone really in charge." 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/31/opinion/31sat1.html?ex=1092299005&ei=1&en=a5d88aed04337ea3


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