CHENEY BLOCKED INTELLIGENCE REFORM IN 1992
Some of the most important intelligence reforms proposed by the 9-11
Commission, including the creation of a Director of National
Intelligence (DNI), might have been adopted over a decade ago if
not for the opposition of the Secretary of Defense at the time,
Dick Cheney.
In a March 1992 letter to Congress, Secretary Cheney defended the
status quo and objected to proposed intelligence reform
legislation, particularly the DNI position.
"The roles of the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central
Intelligence have evolved in a fashion that meets national,
departmental and tactical intelligence needs," Cheney wrote.
The intelligence reform proposals "would seriously impair the
effectiveness of this arrangement by assigning inappropriate
authority to the proposed Director of National Intelligence (DNI),
who would become the director and manager of internal DoD
activities that in the interest of efficiency and effectiveness
must remain under the authority, direction, and control of the
Secretary of Defense," he wrote.
A companion letter from the DoD General Counsel elaborated on
Secretary Cheney's objections, complaining that the intelligence
reform proposal would "give the DNI far more extensive authority
and responsibility for program and budget matters than is now
exercised by the DCI," which is indeed the whole point.
Secretary Cheney successfully torpedoed the initiative with his
warning that "I would recommend that the President veto [the
measure] if [it] were presented to him in its current form."
In fairness, it was not obvious, then or now, that the DNI concept
is the best or only solution to what ails U.S. intelligence. And
it would be surprising if a Secretary of Defense did anything other
than protect his institutional turf.
But Cheney's unyielding opposition stifled the first initiative for
post-Cold War intelligence reform. As a result, we now face many
of the same problems, and the same proposed solutions, more than a
decade later.
See Secretary Cheney's March 17, 1992 letter to House Armed Services
Committee chairman Les Aspin here:
fas.org
Thanks to Robert Steele of Open Source Solution (www.oss.net), which
advocates establishment of an independent open source intelligence
agency. |
