ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:96030101.POL
DATE:03/01/96
TITLE:01-03-96  LESS STAFF, MORE TECHNOLOGY FOR INTELLIGENCE, REPORT URGES

TEXT:
(Broader responsibility for director recommended) (640)
By Ralph Dannheisser
USIA Staff Writer

Washington -- A bipartisan commission established by Congress and the
president has called for changes in the nation's intelligence
structure, with staffing cut sharply to allow greater spending on
technology.

Remaining personnel should be redeployed to meet shifting needs, the
commission says.

The 17-member Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United
States Intelligence Community outlined its findings, developed during
more than a year of hearings and discussions, in a 150-page report
issued March 1.

The panel, chartered by Congress in October 1994 to review
intelligence activities in the post-Cold War era, initially was headed
by Les Aspin, President Clinton's first secretary of defense. Harold
Brown, defense secretary in the Carter administration, stepped in when
Aspin died last May. Former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman, a
Republican, has served as vice chairman.

Outlining their report at a briefing at the National Press Club, Brown
and Rudman called special attention to a commission proposal to put
the director of central intelligence in overall charge of the range of
intelligence agencies in fact as well as in name.

To free the director for those broader duties, they recommended
establishment of a new post of deputy director of central
intelligence, whose attention would be focused on day-to-day operation
of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The nation's other main intelligence arms are the National Security
Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Brown and Rudman, flanked by half a dozen other members of the
commission, stressed that its recommendations were all adopted
unanimously. That could provide a good basis for enactment of many of
the proposals, either through congressional action or executive orders
issued by the president, they said.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are conducting their
own reviews of the intelligence picture -- reviews prompted in part by
the Aldrich Ames spy scandal. Ames, a senior CIA counterintelligence
official, was found in 1994 to have spied for the Soviet Union and
then Russia, and an investigation raised questions about internal
agency procedures for dealing with such activities.

A House committee is expected to issue its own report on the future of
U.S. intelligence operations as early as next week.

Brown told reporters at the commission briefing there is no doubt that
intelligence "remains invaluable" to the nation as threats to U.S.
security "haven't vanished" with the end of the Cold War. But, Brown
said, "it can and must be improved...(and) realigned to meet new
conditions."

With respect to staff cuts and realignments proposed by the panel,
Rudman said it is clear that "the mix of personnel...is not right at
this time." He termed the spy agencies "top heavy with
personnel...(with) not enough money for the new technologies."

To correct this situation, the commission proposes a cut of as many as
5,000 to 6,000 intelligence staffers -- about 10 percent of the total
present complement of the agencies.

Rudman said the panel also favors official release of the overall
annual budget figure for intelligence activities. He noted that the
figure is widely reported and discussed, even without such official
release. Recent annual spending on intelligence is estimated at
$26,000 million to $29,000 million.

The commission report was released to generally favorable initial
reactions.

CIA Director John Deutch said in a written statement that he is
"favorably impressed" by the list of recommendations and has organized
an intelligence community panel to review the proposals and report its
own assessment within the next few weeks.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Arlen Specter told reporters
the commission had produced "a good report," adding his own view that
"the intelligence community is in need of significant revision."
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