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Bush wary of intelligence post

US President George W. Bush is prepared to announce within days a package of steps to implement recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, possibly including the creation of a new post of national intelligence director.

But he is wary of following the panel's recommendation that the official work within the White House, senior administration officials said on Friday.

The creation of the job of intelligence director, who would be res-ponsible for coordinating the work of the CIA and the government's 14 other intelligence agencies, was the central recommendation of the Sept. 11 commission, which re-leased a final report last week calling for a sweeping overhaul of the intelligence community.

Administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while the White House was still debating the proposal and may recommend the creation of a national intelligence director, there was concern about placing the job within the executive offices of the White House, which might raise issues about the director's independence and whether intelligence was being politicized.

The idea of creating a national intelligence director has faced opposition from both the CIA and the Pentagon, which would have to cede some authority to the new official. Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, has endorsed the commission's recommendations in full and has accused the administration of sluggishness in its reaction to the panel's work.

"I'm sort of staggered how quick people are to endorse wholesale the commission report without some considered reflection on this," a senior White House official told reporters.

The official said that intelligence analysts needed to "maintain their autonomy" from the White House, adding: "There are some very important potential consequences to the placement of the office, and that's why were taking a serious look at it."

Eager to act quickly and publicly on the commission's recommendations, especially in an election year in which security issues are expected to be decisive for voters, senior administration officials have met every day this week to discuss the issues, and senior officials said that Bush would announce a package of steps as soon as tomorrow in response to the panel's report.

A senior administration official, noting that Bush had participated by videophone in three of the sessions, said that the White House package would "in some ways go beyond, I expect, what the Sept. 11 commission has recommended."

But the official would not be more specific, except to say that the White House wanted to improve on the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission in providing for additional protection of civil liberties and for steps intended to prevent intelligence from being politicized.

The chairman and vice chairman of the Sept. 11 committee testified on Friday before an extraordinary midsummer hearing of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

The chairman, Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor, and Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic House member, called on lawmakers to move quickly on the commission's recommendations, which came after a 19-month investigation that documented how intelligence and counterterrorism agencies bungled a series of clues that might have led them to the Sept. 11 terrorists.
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