FAS | Intelligence | News | 2004 ||||

August 2004 Intelligence News

• Background Briefing on New Executive Orders on Intelligence Reform by senior White House official, August 27. "This afternoon we have available for your questioning a senior White House official to discuss the executive orders and presidential directives signed this afternoon."
• White House Fact Sheet: President Issues New Orders to Reform Intelligence, August 27. "Today, the President issued a series of new, far-reaching orders which strain the limits of his authority but are essential to America's security."
• Managing Information by Shane Harris, Government Executive, August 18. "The whole Iraq misadventure calls into question the very concept of a National Intelligence Estimate," says Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists. "In retrospect, we would have been better off if each agency . . . produced its own estimate. The profound differences of opinion . . . would then have had a better chance to be aired and evaluated."
• As Defense Chief in 1992, Cheney Opposed Intelligence Czar by Walter Pincus, The Washington Post, August 6. "While he was defense secretary in 1992, Vice President Cheney said he would recommend a presidential veto of a bill that would have established a director of national intelligence with authority over the Pentagon's intelligence-collection activities."
• Dick Nixed It: Is this why Bush's intelligence-czar plan is so half-hearted? by Fred Kaplan, Slate, August 6. "President Bush has only tepidly endorsed the 9/11 commission's proposal for a new centralized director of national intelligence, and now we have an explanation for his half-heartedness."
• Cheney Opposed Intelligence Post in '92 by Deb Riechmann, Associated Press, August 6. "As defense secretary, Dick Cheney urged a presidential veto of legislation that would have given a national intelligence director budget authority over spy agencies run by the Pentagon."
• White House Fact Sheet: Making America Safer by Strengthening Our Intelligence Capabilities, August 2. "President Bush today announced his support for the creation of the new position of National Intelligence Director (NID) and looks forward to working with the Congress to move forward the necessary process of intelligence reform as quickly as possible."
• Remarks by the President on Intelligence Reform August 2. "My administration has already taken numerous actions consistent with the commission's recommendations. Today, we're taking additional steps."