And the MI5 does a great job, too.. why, the IRA almost NEVER bombs places
in greater London...


"Keke Goldfeller" wrote in message
om...
Please contact your representatives in Washington D.C. immediately and
urge them to support the creation of this agency. It is an idea whos
time has come. Do it for your children. I thank you and your children
thank you.
Keke Goldfeller


By LAURENCE ARNOLD, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The independent commission studying the Sept. 11 terror
attacks is considering recommending changes in U.S. intelligence that
would go well beyond actions of the Bush administration, including
creation of a domestic spy agency modeled after Britain's MI5.


James B. Steinberg, deputy national security adviser in the Clinton
administration, said he advocates the creation of two new entities: an
independent director of national intelligence and a domestic security
service like the MI5.


Steinberg was expected to testify Tuesday at a public hearing for the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Other
experts at the hearing will include James R. Schlesinger and John M.
Deutch, both former directors of central intelligence, chief of the
CIA and all other U.S. intelligence operations.


In an interview on the eve of his testimony, Steinberg said U.S.
counterterror efforts remain hampered by decades-old walls separating
the work of the FBI, which operates domestically and traditionally has
focused on catching people who break laws, and the CIA, which works
abroad and focuses on learning secrets.


"The beauty of the MI5 model is it breaks down both those walls," said
Steinberg, director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings
Institution.


MI5 describes itself as Britain's defensive security intelligence
agency. It cannot detain or arrest its targets but seeks to "to gain
the advantage over (them) by covertly obtaining information about
them, which we can use to counter their activities."


Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge visited MI5 headquarters during a
trip to Britain last year. He later said he doubted the Bush
administration would create a similar domestic intelligence agency,
because MI5's powers would be unacceptable under the U.S.
Constitution.


FBI Director Robert Mueller also opposes the idea of an American MI5,
saying such a proposal is based on "a faulty understanding of
counterterrorism that sees a dichotomy between `intelligence
operations' and `law enforcement operations.'"


The 10-member, bipartisan commission has until May 27 to submit a
report that also will deal with law enforcement, diplomacy,
immigration, commercial aviation and the flow of assets to terror
organizations.


Commission chairman Thomas H. Kean said the panel is considering
several ideas to make U.S. intelligence more effective, "including the
question of whether the United States should establish a Director of
National Intelligence."


Vice chairman Lee H. Hamilton said the commission also hopes to learn
how the government prepares warnings about attacks.


A joint House-Senate inquiry after the Sept. 11 attacks concluded that
serious failings by U.S. intelligence leaders left the country
vulnerable. Successive leaders, including Deutch and others, did not
work hard enough "to overcome the institutional and cultural obstacles
to interagency cooperation and coordination that bedeviled
counterterrorism efforts before the attacks," the report said.


The Bush administration has acted to strengthen intelligence gathering
and sharing since the 2001 attacks. It created a Terrorist Threat
Integration Center to bring together information gathered by the CIA,
FBI and other agencies. The center reports to the CIA director but is
not part of the agency.


Also, the FBI, under new powers granted by the USA Patriot Act, "is
now dedicated to preventing future attacks" instead of just
investigating past crimes, President Bush said in a September speech
at the FBI Academy.


Still, some critics say a fundamental overhaul is needed.


In a report last year, a task force of intelligence experts, academics
and technology executives assembled by the Markle Foundation faulted
the Bush administration's homeland security plans for giving the FBI
too much responsibility for analyzing terror threats. Philip Zelikow,
who served as executive director of the Markle task force, is now
executive director of the Sept. 11 commission.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has proposed legislation that would
split the current position of director of central intelligence into
two jobs: a CIA director and a national intelligence director.

The new position of national intelligence director, appointed by the
president and confirmed by the Senate to a 10-year term, would oversee
all intelligence agencies, establishing priorities for collection,
monitoring cooperation and coordinating distribution. The duty of the
CIA director would be limited to running that one agency.

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