[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Time Runs Short for 9/11 Reform

Tue Oct 19 07:56:43 PDT 2004

The article below from NYTimes.com 
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Time Runs Short for 9/11 Reform

October 19, 2004

The Republican chairman of the independent commission on
the Sept. 11 attacks is properly begging President Bush to
step forward and fight for true intelligence reform from
Congress before it is too late. "Time is not on our side,"
warned the panel's chairman, Thomas Kean. Failure to act
forcefully this week makes it likely that this crucial
priority will slip into a lame-duck session, when all sense
of urgency and voter pressure will be lost. 

Although Mr. Bush endorsed a measure to create a powerful
new national intelligence director, final Congressional
action is reported to be on the brink of failure, with the
two houses nowhere near settling their deep rift. Clearly,
no campaign priority is more important, but the president
has thus far shied from going to the voters to demand final
action on intelligence reform. 

The Congressional deadlock was created when the House
Republican leadership diluted the 9/11 panel's
recommendation for a strong intelligence director and added
extraneous surveillance and deportation powers. The
preferable Senate bill would create a director with budget
and personnel clout to fight the confusion that now
afflicts the nation's 15 intelligence agencies. As
negotiators meet tomorrow, they need to hear a clarion call
from the president for the strongest possible reform,
stripped of the House's retrogressive add-ons. 

The White House insists that the president is committed to
reform. But that's what it said about the assault weapons
ban earlier this year, when Mr. Bush was doing nothing to
save it from expiring. By comparison, Mr. Bush did not
hesitate to prod Congress to end its differences and create
the new Homeland Security Department during an
election-year standoff two years ago. It's not hard to tell
the difference between rhetorical commitment and actual
involvement. Mr. Bush should urgently appeal to the people
now, or he will once more leave the nation's intelligence
in disarray. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/opinion/19tue2.html?ex=1099197802&ei=1&en=fdf0cceeb056e349

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