Posted on 12/17/2004 7:29:07 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
President Bush (news - web sites) on Friday signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering in 50 years, hoping to improve the spy network that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Our vast intelligence enterprise will become more unified, coordinated and effective," Bush said. "It will enable us to better do our duty, which is to protect the American people."
The 563-page bill, which endured a thorny path to congressional passage, also aims to tighten borders and aviation security. It creates a federal counterterrorism center and a new intelligence director, but Bush did not announce a candidate for that post at Friday's ceremony.
"A key lesson of Sept. 11 is that America's intelligence agencies must work together as a single, unified enterprise," the president said.
Bush was joined at the signing ceremony by CIA (news - web sites) Director Porter Goss, FBI (news - web sites) Director Robert Mueller, members of Congress, leaders of the Sept. 11 commission and relatives of people killed on Sept. 11, 2001.
"Those charged with protecting America must have the best possible intelligence information and that information must be closely integrated to form the best possible picture of the threats to our country," the president said.
The new position of national intelligence director was one of the bill's most controversial aspects. Although the legislation gives the new director strong budget authority, its language is complex enough that there could be continued debate over the exact extent of the director's power.
But Bush attempted to leave no doubt about the sweeping nature of the intelligence director's budgetary authority.
"It will be the DNI's responsibility to determine the annual budgets of all national intelligence agencies and offices and to direct how these funds are spent," he said.
I wonder if anyone in Congress or the President actually read the thing......
I particularly like the part where the bill is passed into law, and then the public finds out what is in it later.
Bush to sign intelligence reform bill (Signing 10:05 AM EST)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1303403/posts
(Earlier, related thread)
S. 2845—134 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any person who violates, or attempts or conspires to violate, subsection (a) shall be fined not more than $2,000,000 and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not less than 25 years or to imprisonment for life.
Now that the media's blackout on reporting the details of the intelligence bill, instead choosing to endorse it with huge sh!t-eatting grins and telling us how wonderful it is, has succeeded in allowing the bill to pass with all the liberal-friendly happy talk in it about protecting terrorists' rights and keeping the borders "immigrant friendly", wait a little while.
A week from now, they will turn right around and start their "exclusive exposures" of all the evils of the intelligence bill and how it puts us in even more danger than before, and that it's as bad as the Patriot Act and it's all George Bush's fault because he wants us all to be attacked and killed by terrorists so he has more reasons to go to war for oil and imperialism.
When it comes the the media, conservatives are lose-lose. Liberals are win-win.
I feel so much safer today. ;)
I salute Jim Sensenbrenner, Tom Tancredo, Joel Hefley and all the 67 Republicans, plus the 8 Democrats who opposed and voted against this incomplete intel legislation. A comprehensive intel bill would have included measures to better address America's serious illegal immigration problem. The bill PresBush signed into law today isn't worth jackshit. Just more bureaucractic hogwash.
What was the penalty before this?
I'd say Tancredo/Sensenbrenner in '08, but we need *someone* with a brain to stay in Congress!
I don't know. I was just amused that anyone other than a politician thinks this will ever be used against a terrorist.
I can imagine the internal memo at terrorist HQ telling the bad guys not to use shoulder fired missles because they can't afford the fines.
The mistake is treating these guys like criminals, this is war.
Can you imagine passing a bill making it illegal to bomb Pearl Harbor again?
I heard yesterday about the smuggler who brought some Mexicans in and they died of suffocation in a truck. The judge dismissed the charges because "he did not profit" from his deeds. I haven't seen an article on that yet.
Or flying planes into office buildings? Yes, I can easily imagine them passing such a bill.
Dandy.
On par with the "Strongly Worded Condemnations" that the U.N. issues to the Rawandans for hacking 600,000 men, women and children to death.
Just the sight of LIEberman turned my stomach. As for Kean and the rest of the jackasses from the 9/11 commission......well, I'll keep my opinion to myself lest I be banned for obscenties.
With each passing day I fear the terrorists a little less, that's good, and our government a little more, that's bad.
This terrorism bill is bogus nonsense.
It is now considered appropriate for our wives to be felt up at our nations airports, but we still must not insult those who cross our borders, by objecting them doing so.
Essentially we have accepted the feeling up of our wives because our leaders refused to get our borders under control. We don't know who is here. We don't know who's coming in. So instead of taking responsibility to get that under control, the American public is subject to outrageous unacceptable behavior by our own government.
Disgusting. This nation is sinking back into the primordial muck!
I feel cheated. I flew twice in the past few weeks and didn't get felt up once.
Haven't I noticed you're flying more these days. ;0 LOL
Get outa here...
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