Senator Feinstein
Legislation to Reorganize U.S. Intelligence Community
Thu Jul 8, 2004 04:26
64.140.158.74

Senator Feinstein Announces Legislation to Reorganize
U.S. Intelligence Community
June 7, 2002
http://feinstein.senate.gov/Releases02/r-intel2.htm

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today announced legislation to be introduced next week to reorganize the nation's intelligence programs.

"This legislation is a critical step toward creating a truly functional intelligence community where vital information does not fall through the cracks," Senator Feinstein said.

The bill would separate the current position of Director of Central Intelligence (currently held by one individual, who both runs the CIA and the intelligence community as a whole) into two positions: a "Director of National Intelligence" (DNI) to lead the all segments of the Intelligence Community and a Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DCIA) to serve as head of the CIA.

The following is a statement by Senator Feinstein:

"Whatever the other lessons of the inquiry into the September 11th attacks, one thing is perfectly clear, as President Bush himself has declared, we need to better coordinate our intelligence and anti-terrorism efforts.

The President's proposal announced yesterday focuses mostly on homeland security and I am concerned that it does not do enough to address the structure of our intelligence community.

The critical policy and resource decisions which the President's proposed Homeland Defense Agency will only be as good as the intelligence which informs those decisions. Put bluntly, without good intelligence our Homeland Defense will likely fail.

Over the past months, I have become increasingly concerned that the fundamental structure of the intelligence community is deeply flawed and that we need legislation to repair that structure.

In particular, the lack of a strong, effective and independent head of the Intelligence Community, unencumbered with other duties, has resulted in an intelligence community that is fragmented and uncoordinated and, as a result, not as effective as it can and must be.

The legislation I will be introducing will create a new Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to lead the Intelligence Community and a Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DCIA) to serve as head of the CIA.

This would remedy what I believe to be a fundamental problem in the organization of our Intelligence Community: one person is, under current law, expected to perform two jobs: head of the Intelligence Community, and head of the Central Intelligence Agency.

I do not believe it possible for one person to perform these two functions at the same time and do them well. As a practical matter, the demands on the time and attention of any person, no matter how skilled in management, are necessarily overwhelming. Running the intelligence community and running the CIA are both important enough to be full time jobs.

Structurally, there is an inherent conflict between the two roles, for what is good for the intelligence community is not necessarily good for the Central Intelligence Agency, and vice versa.

Finally, even if one person could handle both jobs and reconcile the inherent conflicts, there would remain the perception that he or she is favoring either the community or the Agency.

This proposal should not be seen as a criticism of the current head of both the Intelligence Community and Central Intelligence Agency - the problem is not George Tenet; it is the positions which he occupies.

I believe the solution is relatively simple - enact legislation that would require the head of the Intelligence Community and the head of the CIA to be two different people.

Changes such as this have been proposed and debated for years. The events of September 11 underscore the urgency for such changes."

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION
BY SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN

Creates the position of "Director of National Intelligence" to head the Intelligence Community.

* Gives the Director of National Intelligence all of the responsibilities and authorities currently given to the Director of Central Intelligence in his capacity as head of the Intelligence Community, except:

* Provides for a 10 year term in office for the Director of National Intelligence: This will ensure independence and continuity in this critical position

* Clarifies and augments his authorities to direct the creation of the intelligence community budget: This will ensure meaningful and effective leadership of the Intelligence Community in the area of resource allocation

* Clarifies and augments his authorities to reprogram intelligence community funds and personnel: This will provide for meaningful and flexible authority to expend Intelligence Community resources

* Provides the Director of National Intelligence with an Intelligence Community General Counsel and Inspector General to assist him in carrying out his duties: This will ensure that the Intelligence Community is guided by effective and independent legal counsel answering to only the Director of National Intelligence and that there is an Inspector General with authority to investigate fraud, waste and abuse on a community-wide basis

Creates the position of "Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" to head the CIA

* This will allow the CIA to be led by a chief whose only duty is to ensure that the CIA does the best possible job in collecting, analyzing and disseminating intelligence.



Senator Feinstein joins LA Chief Police Bratton to support the renewal of the
assault weapons ban.

Statement of Senator Feinstein On the Indictment of Ken Lay (7/7/04)
http://feinstein.senate.gov/04Releases/r-kenlay-indictmnt.htm

Statement of Senator Feinstein
On the Indictment of Ken Lay
July 7, 2004
pdf version

“According to media reports, a Federal grand jury today indicted Ken Lay, former chairman and chief executive officer of Enron Corp. This marks another step forward in holding the leaders of Enron accountable for their many misdeeds, which included taking advantage of Californians by manipulating the energy market for financial gain.

When the details of this indictment become known, we will be able to learn more about Enron's actions so that we can fix the system and keep this kind of widespread abuse of from happening again.”
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