Intelligence Committee Republicans proposed removing the nation’s largest intelligence gathering operations from the CIA and the Pentagon and putting them directly under a new national intelligence director.
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) the committee chairman, unveiled on Sunday the most sweeping intelligence reorganization proposal offered by anyone since the Sept. ll commission called for major changes. In an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Roberts acknowledged that full details had yet to be shared with either the White House or with Senate Democrats.
“We didn’t pay attention to turf or agencies or boxes” but rather to “what are the national security threats that face this country today,” Roberts said of the proposals supported by eight GOP members of the intelligence committee. “I’m trying to build a consensus around something that’s very different and very bold.”
But he immediately ran into some resistance from a Democrat on his own committee. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said that before appearing with Roberts on the CBS show neither he nor the committee’s ranking Democrat, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, had seen the full proposal.
The White House was a bit more noncommittal. “We look forward to reviewing the details of Sen. Roberts’ proposal,” said White House spokesman Brian Besanceney. “We have taken nothing off the table.”
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Compiled from news services and edited by Tran Ha (tha@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com)
