FBI, CIA Chiefs Testify on Proposed Agency

The nation’s intelligence chiefs testified Thursday that they will provide personnel and undiluted intelligence to a proposed Homeland Security Department but argued against giving the new agency intelligence-gathering powers of its own.

CIA Director George J. Tenet and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III stressed that the proposed department should focus its efforts on finding and fixing the nation’s vulnerabilities to terrorism rather than duplicating their agencies’ intelligence-gathering and law enforcement functions.

Mueller went as far as to suggest that shifting responsibility for domestic counter-terrorism away from the FBI to the new agency could hamper America’s efforts to prevent another attack.

Stripping the FBI of its counter-terrorism responsibility “would not be a wise idea,” he said. “Such a move at this critical moment would disrupt our ongoing battle against terrorism.”

But their testimony to a Senate panel--their first on the subject since President Bush unveiled his proposal to create a Department of Homeland Security--was accompanied by indications from influential lawmakers that the CIA and FBI might have to relinquish significant authority.

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said he is concerned that the FBI is stretched too thin. “The FBI has too many priorities. I don’t see how the bureau can do all of them and do them well.”

Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sept. 11 was proof that no official in government has adequate authority to gather information on terrorist threats against the U.S. and respond to them.

Nearly 10 months later, he said, “no one really knows what we know, and no one is really in position to go and find out. This state of affairs is deplorable and must end.”

Shelby’s comments came during a key day of hearings before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, a panel that will play a significant role in shaping legislation to create a Homeland Security Department.

Bush called earlier this month for the creation of a Cabinet-level agency that would encompass the Coast Guard, Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service and other agencies. It would have almost 170,000 employees and an annual budget exceeding $37 billion.

No one has so far formally proposed including the CIA and FBI in the new department. But there has been considerable discussion on Capitol Hill about how to make sure the CIA and FBI cooperate with the department and whether they should even yield some of their traditional turf to it.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), chairman of the committee, said the new department “must have the authority to task the intelligence and law enforcement agencies to collect information” rather than merely having access to what they produce.

Tenet and Mueller both replied that they routinely collect information at the behest of other government officials, but they stopped short of endorsing the idea of giving a new homeland security chief authority over their agents and officers.

The FBI, which is responsible for domestic intelligence gathering and counter-terrorism, has come under particular scrutiny since revelations in recent months that it mishandled warnings that might have enabled authorities to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks.

Several times Thursday, Mueller was asked whether it was possible for the FBI to handle the competing demands of pursuing criminal cases, which requires the guarding of evidence, and combating terrorism, which entails sharing information quickly and widely.

Mueller responded by saying that FBI field agents are, more than anything, “good collectors of information” and that splitting them into separate law enforcement and counter-terrorism entities would only hinder information sharing.

He noted that 2,000 of the bureau’s 11,500 agents are now focused almost exclusively on counter-terrorism, acknowledging that post-Sept. 11 priorities have required a shift in resources from other areas of law enforcement, particularly drug interdiction.

Tenet and the CIA have also come under criticism for Sept. 11 failings. Shelby, a longtime critic of Tenet, said Thursday that the CIA director has “openly defied” efforts at meaningful reform. He questioned Tenet’s commitment to providing the Homeland Security Department access to raw intelligence data as well as analytical reports.

Tenet had testified earlier in the day that the CIA would be willing to furnish raw data to the department but would seek to protect the names of sources and methods by which they were collected.

Lieberman said his committee is scheduled to begin working on the homeland security bill in mid-July.

Meanwhile, efforts to strengthen and reshape the FBI for the fight against terrorism provoked a public spat between the Justice Department and a leading Republican, a sign of rising tensions between the administration and Congress.

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) abruptly canceled a hearing on the issue just minutes before Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft was scheduled to testify. Sensenbrenner, a stickler for protocol, said he acted “because the Justice Department failed to provide Atty. Gen. Ashcroft’s testimony to the committee.”

People testifying before Congress are required to give advance copies of their written testimony, but the rule is often ignored.

Aides said Ashcroft, who has incensed some members of Congress for keeping them out of the loop on key anti-terrorism decisions, was befuddled by the gesture. Several suggested that Sensenbrenner’s real motivation was to be on the floor of the House for discussion of a bill on the Pledge of Allegiance rather than having to listen to Ashcroft.