NY Times: Lawmakers Want Cabinet Post for an Intelligence Director:
The leaders stopped short of endorsing one of the most contentious ideas for intelligence change being widely debated in Washington — the creation of an additional domestic intelligence agency like the British MI-5 — even as they recognized the F.B.I.’s weaknesses in conducting domestic counterterrorism operations. But they said they were open to further study of such proposals.
The idea of creating an American version of MI-5 has gained support as the Bush administration, Congress and outside experts have all tried to grapple with the difficulties of tracking terrorists once they are inside the United States. Widespread criticism of the F.B.I.’s performance before Sept. 11 raised questions about whether counterterrorism operations should be stripped from the bureau and turned over to an independent agency. Still, deep concerns over civil liberties and other constitutional issues have made both the administration and Congress reluctant to endorse the idea.
The proposal to create a director of national intelligence closely mirrors legislation introduced last summer by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California. Ms. Feinstein said in June that a director of national intelligence was necessary to “coordinate our intelligence and antiterrorism efforts” and to make certain that “the sort of communication problems that prevented the various elements of our intelligence community from working together effectively before Sept. 11 never happen again.”