Brian Rucker
06-30-2005, 07:34 AM
WASHINGTON, June 29 - President Bush on Wednesday ordered changes intended to break down old walls between foreign and domestic intelligence activities by creating a new national security division within the Federal Bureau of Investigation that will fall under the overall direction of John D. Negroponte, the new director of national intelligence.
The decisions on intelligence come after a 90-day review led by Frances Fragos Townsend, a former mob prosecutor in Manhattan.
The directive by Mr. Bush is aimed at consolidating the power of Mr. Negroponte, whose authority over the F.B.I. had been ambiguous. It also sets in motion a major restructuring designed to dissolve the barriers that have often kept the Central Intelligence Agency and the F.B.I. at arm's length, and elevates intelligence operations to new prominence within the F.B.I., which has remained firmly oriented toward traditional law enforcement, even since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
General Michael V. Hayden, the deputy director of national intelligence, said the government would take steps to ensure that the changes did not impinge on American civil liberties. But in a briefing for reporters, General Hayden also said that the United States no longer had the luxury of maintaining divisions between its foreign and domestic intelligence structures, because "our enemy does not recognize that distinction."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/politics/30intel.html
The law left Mr. Negroponte with clear control over the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies that operate abroad, but the commission warned in a report in March that the legislation left his influence over the F.B.I. "troublingly vague," hampering effective oversight of the nation's intelligence operations.
Oh, yeah, this is the man to run domestic intelligence gathering operations. Why it seems like yesterday we were waxing rhapsodic about his role as ambassador in Iraq...*strokes his chin as the the screen fuzzily fades into a flashback*
http://www.quartertothree.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10047&highlight=negroponte
A memorandum sent by Mr. Bush to his top deputies said the changes would "ensure that the F.B.I.'s intelligence elements are responsive" to Mr. Negroponte. It said that the new security division, the National Security Service, to be headed by a senior F.B.I. official, would include the bureau's counterterrorism and counterintelligence divisions, as well as its intelligence directorate, and that all would be "subject to the coordination and budget powers" of the new intelligence chief.
The decisions on intelligence come after a 90-day review led by Frances Fragos Townsend, a former mob prosecutor in Manhattan.
The directive by Mr. Bush is aimed at consolidating the power of Mr. Negroponte, whose authority over the F.B.I. had been ambiguous. It also sets in motion a major restructuring designed to dissolve the barriers that have often kept the Central Intelligence Agency and the F.B.I. at arm's length, and elevates intelligence operations to new prominence within the F.B.I., which has remained firmly oriented toward traditional law enforcement, even since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
General Michael V. Hayden, the deputy director of national intelligence, said the government would take steps to ensure that the changes did not impinge on American civil liberties. But in a briefing for reporters, General Hayden also said that the United States no longer had the luxury of maintaining divisions between its foreign and domestic intelligence structures, because "our enemy does not recognize that distinction."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/politics/30intel.html
The law left Mr. Negroponte with clear control over the Central Intelligence Agency and other agencies that operate abroad, but the commission warned in a report in March that the legislation left his influence over the F.B.I. "troublingly vague," hampering effective oversight of the nation's intelligence operations.
Oh, yeah, this is the man to run domestic intelligence gathering operations. Why it seems like yesterday we were waxing rhapsodic about his role as ambassador in Iraq...*strokes his chin as the the screen fuzzily fades into a flashback*
http://www.quartertothree.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10047&highlight=negroponte
A memorandum sent by Mr. Bush to his top deputies said the changes would "ensure that the F.B.I.'s intelligence elements are responsive" to Mr. Negroponte. It said that the new security division, the National Security Service, to be headed by a senior F.B.I. official, would include the bureau's counterterrorism and counterintelligence divisions, as well as its intelligence directorate, and that all would be "subject to the coordination and budget powers" of the new intelligence chief.