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Law Enforcement
Senator Pat Roberts' Plan to reduce Accountability by Candida B. Eittriem When Senator Pat Roberts unveiled his plan for revamping Intelligence services, I was struck once again by how very narrow-minded and limited the thinking is on Capitol Hill. His new plan calls for removing the DIA, CIA and NSA from under the Pentagon's purview, and creating a bloated and Byzantine bureaucratic morass. Not only is his plan unworkable, it's dangerously inept. The budget cost on this pork barrel proposal will treble at a time when we can least afford this type of spending. The Roberts' bill would also break up the CIA
-- put it's three main directorates under thhe authority of three separate
assistant directors of national intelligence, all of whom would report to
a single national intelligence director. It would also shift intelligence
resources from the Pentagon to a new National Intelligence Service. "The times call for sweeping reform. Do you rearrange the deck chairs or do you attempt real reform?" said Roberts, the chairman of the Select Senate Committee on Intelligence. (See Indystar.com) No More Political Middle Men -- please! The 911 Commission jointly suggested that a new national intelligence director be chosen. The idea of a new national intelligence director with budget authority and power to oversee the 15-agency intelligence community has been met with skepticism in Congress, where some key lawmakers are concerned that the position would create more bureaucracy and politicize the business of gathering and analyzing intelligence. The goal should be to decrease inter-agency competition and foster a more cooperative working environment among the different arms of our intelligence agencies. Senator Roberts plan on the other hand would increase the bureaucracy. Let the Agencies Speak for themselves So, why not form a raw intelligence analysis unit, completely removed from political pressure and influence? This unit would be an inter-agency team, sharing information and cooperating without fear of the pressures that have dogged any intelligence gathering body for over 60 years. Each of the arms of our Intel community serves a specific function. Where there is overlap, that should be removed. Any oversight should be done by seasoned case officers, who have actually worked cases out in the more hostile places in this world. Promoting an Ivy League desk-jockey to the position of Director is absurd and in my opinion incredibly dangerous, given the times we live in. Again, instead of one Director, why not have a committee comprised of a member from each area of Intelligence with no political affiliations? This puts in place a checks-and-balances scenario and removes the partisanship from the debate. This agency would file regular reports to the Joint Intelligence Committee, and in fact have one of their members as part of the directorate. The old system of carrot-and-stick rewards, based on how one skewed reports to satisfy some political master, would be gone. Our analysts should not have to fear career ruination because they have discerned something not pleasing to Capitol Hill. The Department of Homeland Security is the perfect shell in which to begin trying new ways of working as a team. People criticize Tom Ridge's department, but fail to realize, this is a very young and raw agency, with huge potential, if run right. It is also much more user-friendly to most Americans, as opposed to the other branches. And this is critical to our staying safe and becoming more secure here at home. Too many U.S. citizens are terrified of our Intelligence agencies, and often avoid reporting vital information because of it. And, rightly so. In order for the U.S. to survive, we need to have that fear removed. The prevailing attitude in intelligence is that most Americans are beneath them, and therefore suspect. People, who in the past have tried to report things have been treated rudely or worse, find themselves under scrutiny. The 9-11 committee touches on this in a tangential manner. There should be community outreach officers, chosen for their ability to communicate effectively and reasonably with the public and local law enforcement. An individual wanting to report something should be given a name and a contact number to call back. It doesn't matter if it's a rerouted phone number, what matters is treating John Q. Public with a modicum of respect. I submit, if we had had more user friendly contacts within our country, 9-11 may well have been averted. Our taxes pay for their salaries -- they work for us, not Washington politicians. It is past time for anyone who cares about what happens to us here in the U.S., to wake up and start adding our valuable input to matters as critical as this one is. Start writing and calling your respective Senators and Congressmen, with your ideas and opinions on this. It is your right and your privilege to do so. Don't waste this opportunity. About the Author(s): See under Our Contributors to find out about the Author(s) of this article. |
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