The head of a special commission responsible for devising ways to counter terrorism has called for a fundamental reform of the American intelligence community. Former Virginia Governor James S. Gilmore III, who most recently served as chairman of the Republican Party, announced that his task force would recommend that US spy agencies funnel all intelligence data into a "fusion-intelligence center."
"I think that is going to become law," says Gilmore, head of a panel asked by the US Congress to propose countermeasures to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
The findings of the so-called Gilmore Commission are a counterpoint to last week’s congressional testimony by George Tenet, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, who said US intelligence agencies failed to stop the Sept. 11 attacks, while insisting the CIA and its subordinate spy agencies can not possibly to expect 100 percent success in fighting terrorism.
"We made mistakes," Tenet said in a prepared statement before a joint House-Senate committee investigating the intelligence failures of Sept. 11. "We need to be honest about the fact that our homeland is very difficult to protect," Tenet added. "For strategic warning to be effective, there must be a dedicated program to address the vulnerabilities of our free and open society."
The findings of the Gilmore Commission were revealed last week at a conference in Colorado Springs dealing with national security in the post-Sept. 11 era. The commission’s most significant revelation is the proposed creation of a domestic intelligence-gathering agency similar to the so-called MI-5 in Great Britain.
Like its British model, says Gilmore, the agency would have no law enforcement authority but would be charged with gathering intelligence and infiltrating terrorist cells operating at home.
Despite fears of domestic terrorism, however, Gilmore says he still isn’t convinced that such an agency is necessary. "I’m keeping an open mind, but I’m extremely nervous about it," Gilmore says.
His remarks came at a Heritage Foundation seminar in Colorado — "One Year Later: How Much Safer Are We?" — that also featured presentations by former CIA Director R. James Woolsey and US Army General Ralph E. Eberhardt, commander of the newly-established US Northern Command. The Heritage Foundation is a conservative policy analysis "think tank" based in Washington.
Panelists at the Heritage event largely agreed that the United States has been rendered more secure since last year’s terror attacks, though they acknowledged that America is not as safe as it should be.
Gilmore, who has led the anti-terrorism commission for nearly four years, cites a need for better communication within the intelligence community, improved local law enforcement, a more alert private sector and the formation of the Northern Command as steps in the right direction.
But Gilmore warns that weaknesses within the US intelligence community remain, including the slow progress in Congress supporting creation of a Department of Homeland Security, a lack of funding and training for local agencies, and a need for more cooperative intelligence-sharing.
"We have a long, long way to go," Gilmore cautions.
Gilmore also believes that an intelligence-fusion center would enable law enforcement easier access to crucial terrorist data, eliminate redundant efforts and allow better anti-terrorism coordination.
But he and other panelists hesitated on whether to endorse the MI-5 idea. Its primary advantage would be its lack of law enforcement power, which could encourage the cooperation of informants fearful of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or police.
"The British find they have a better time coordinating intelligence information with MI-5," says former CIA Director Woolsey.
Woolsey argues, however, that such an agency should be independent of the CIA. "I don’t think we want the CIA doing that. We don’t want the entity that we send abroad to lie, cheat and steal for us to turn those abilities loose on the United States," Woolsey says. Although Britain’s MI-5 has won praise for its successes in countering Irish Republican Army attacks, Gilmore says he is uncomfortable with the idea of spying on US citizens at home.
"The American people don’t like being overseen," says Gilmore. Woolsey says that although President George W. Bush has described its counterterrorism efforts as a "war on terrorism," Woolsey says it would be more aptly described as a "world war."
In a transparent dig at the foreign policy failings of President Bill Clinton (who, briefly, was his boss), Woolsey says that the United States had gone on a "national beach party" in the 1990s, adding that the war against some radical Islamic factions could last for decades. "We’re not in a war on terrorism; we’re in World War IV," says Woolsey. With decades of letting such terrorist acts as the bombing of embassies pass with little resistance, says Woolsey, the nation had sent a signal to its enemies that "this rich, spoiled, lazy, feckless society won’t fight." "But we surprised them in Afghanistan," Woolsey adds. "And I hope we surprise them again."
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