Panel Proposes Reforms to Try to Prevent Terrorist Attacks

Wrapping up a lengthy investigation of Sept. 11 intelligence failures, lawmakers Tuesday endorsed a list of reforms designed to shore up the government’s abilities to prevent future attacks.

But the proposals were greeted with skepticism from experts and criticism from at least one key senator on the panel for being too soft on the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

As expected, the report calls for the creation of a new Cabinet-level position to oversee the nation’s intelligence community, and prods the CIA and FBI to fix an assortment of problems -- including the failure to share information -- that may have contributed to the success of the Sept. 11 plot.

But the members of the Senate and House intelligence committees, meeting jointly, could not agree on a range of crucial issues, including the continued role of the FBI in gathering intelligence on terrorist suspects in the United States.

And the report stops short of holding any public officials accountable for intelligence breakdowns.

The tone of the report surprised some experts, who said they had expected more aggressive measures from a panel that has been harshly critical of the performance of the CIA and other agencies during high-profile public hearings this year.

“It’s largely cosmetic reform,” said Loch K. Johnson, a professor at the University of Georgia and a senior aide on landmark congressional investigations of the intelligence community in the 1970s and 1990s. “To have a Cabinet member and give him a fancy title is really not going to change anything, I don’t believe.”

Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) of the Senate Intelligence Committee expressed frustration with the outcome, adding that he and other lawmakers planned to submit a minority report with dissenting views.

In particular, Shelby said, he thought committee members should have been willing to assign blame for specific breakdowns. “There’s been no accountability for people who made terrible decisions,” Shelby said. “If you do something well, you should be rewarded. If you do it poorly, that should be pointed out.”

Shelby reiterated his long-standing criticism of CIA Director George J. Tenet, saying, “There have been more failures on his watch than anybody that I know of in the history of the CIA.” Despite his reservations, Shelby said, he voted in favor of the report.

The list of recommendations, scheduled for public release today, is the culmination of a 10-month investigation into intelligence failures that may have contributed to the Sept. 11 attacks. A comprehensive examination of the findings is expected to be released later this month or in January.

The probe has been a source of embarrassment to the intelligence community. During hearings in October, the FBI was sharply criticized for not acting on warnings from agents in Arizona and Minnesota about possible terrorists training at U.S. flight schools. The CIA was chastised for failing to notify the FBI or immigration authorities that operatives linked to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorist network had entered this country.

The committee’s central recommendation calls for the creation of a director of national intelligence, a Cabinet-level position that would oversee the budgets and personnel of all 13 intelligence agencies. While Tenet’s title is director of central intelligence, he has no authority over military intelligence.

The aim of that recommendation is to force better cooperation among the scattered components of the intelligence community, lawmakers said. “We think there needs to be major bold structural change,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice).

But the idea of creating an intelligence czar has been kicking around Washington for more than a decade. It has repeatedly foundered amid opposition from the Pentagon, which controls the bulk of the nation’s intelligence budget and has successfully resisted encroachment on that turf.

The report also calls on Congress to continue exploring the creation of a domestic intelligence service -- a proposal that reflects deep dissatisfaction with the FBI’s performance in tracking terrorists in the United States.

Some on the joint committee favored the creation of such an agency, an idea that White House officials have been exploring in recent months. But aides said key lawmakers, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, objected, citing concern that any such agency might trample civil liberties.

Other recommendations call for new structures and systems for sharing information among intelligence agencies, and stepped-up efforts to recruit spies and improve technologies aimed at penetrating terrorist groups.

Some experts were skeptical that the committee’s work would lead to swift reform.

Several key lawmakers are scheduled to leave intelligence committee assignments when the new Congress begins next month. And President Bush recently signed legislation creating a blue-ribbon commission, headed by former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, to conduct another probe of Sept. 11 failures.

“That helps provide a pretext for inaction” because many in Congress will want to wait to see what the Kissinger commission finds, said Steven Aftergood, an intelligence analyst at the Federation of American Scientists.