| -Caveat Lector-
The reward for failure - permanent membership? - JR
Intelligence Panel Votes To Abolish Term Limits
By Dana Priest The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, in an admission of its own role
in U.S. intelligence failures of the last three years, yesterday voted
unanimously to abolish the eight-year term limits imposed when the panel was
established 28 years ago, committee members said. "The world has gotten very chaotic, and we're not governmentally responding
to it adequately," said Sen. John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), ranking
Democrat on the committee. "There's a lot we can do to make ourselves more
effective." The vote, which took place behind closed doors, would represent the broadest
change in the history of the panel. The Senate committee and its House
counterpart are the only outside bodies with the authority to oversee the
secret, $40 billion intelligence community. The proposed change, which must be passed by the Senate, is contained in the
Intelligence Authorization Act markup for 2005 and has the tentative backing of
the leadership of both parties, committee sources said, speaking anonymously
because of the sensitivity of the subject. "It is clear to me that change is needed," said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.),
the committee chairman. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is
considering similar changes. Two major inquiries in the last 18 months have revealed the failures of the
CIA, FBI and White House to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and their
miscalculation about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Little attention has
been focused on the fact that the congressional oversight committees routinely
received information about al Qaeda before the attacks and had the authority to
demand more information from the intelligence community on the terrorist threat
and on the debate within the intelligence world over Iraq's weapons
capabilities. Several committee members interviewed recently acknowledged that the panels
did not work hard enough on these issues. In the fall of 2002, for example, as
Congress debated waging war in Iraq, no more than six senators read the 92-page
National Intelligence Estimate that laid out the threat from Iraq, as well as
the debate within the intelligence agencies over Iraq's biological, chemical and
nuclear programs. During yesterday's committee session, in which the Intelligence Authorization
Act was approved, members also agreed to consider other major changes in the way
the panel operates. The changes are aimed at increasing senators' understanding
of the complex and secret world of intelligence and allowing individual
lawmakers to develop greater expertise over particular covert and technological
issues. The contemplated changes include establishing subcommittees, which would
spread responsibility among committee members. The panel will also consider
expanding the staff from its current 35 aides. Senators said yesterday that the vote reflected a strong bipartisan consensus
to fix their oversight problems. "I believe that members need the experience that staying on the committee a
long time brings," Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) said. "There's a tough learning
curve on this committee. If members are going to really have proper oversight
over the intelligence community, you have to have some institutional memory. We
probably need to make some other institutional changes as well, but this is a
beginning." The two intelligence committees were created after the 1975 Church committee
hearings, which explored CIA torture and abuse overseas. To ensure the panels'
independence from the intelligence community, Congress imposed eight-year term
limits on committee service. "It was a noble objective, but it has failed in practice," said Jeffrey H.
Smith, a former CIA general counsel and an intelligence expert. Smith said
Congress should also consider putting the intelligence committees on the same
footing as other major panels, such as Appropriations and Armed Services, given
the importance of their work. "It would give them greater clout" in passing
budgets and setting strategic priorities for the intelligence community, he
said. The Senate intelligence committee's bill must be passed by the Armed Services
Committee, which can change parts of the authorization bill before it goes to
the floor for debate. Given the scandal over the abuse of detainees in Iraq and the faltering of
the effort there, "there's a new sense of urgency" on the committee, Rockefeller
said.
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