Intelligence

DATE=12/07/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CONGRESS/INTELLIGENCE UPDATE (L)

NUMBER=2-321004

BYLINE=DAN ROBINSON

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

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HEADLINE: Congress to Debate, Vote on Intelligence Reform

INTRO: Congress is moving quickly to approve wide-ranging legislation reorganizing the nation's intelligence system. Votes in the House and Senate would send the bill, designed to improve the coordination as well as collection, analysis and sharing of intelligence, to President Bush who has indicated he will sign it into law. VOA's Dan Robinson has a report from Capitol Hill:

TEXT: After weeks of difficult bargaining, and one key last minute compromise, Republicans and Democrats put aside partisan differences to praise each other for bringing the bill to the edge enactment.

After debate and a vote in the House (Eds: expected between 5 and 6 p.m.), the Senate will debate the legislation and likely vote on Wednesday.

Republican House lawmakers are calling the legislation a victory for the security of Americans in the war on terrorism.

Congressman Peter Hoekstra is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee:

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"Most importantly, what we expect is that we are going to create a more aggressive, more vibrant and a more organized intelligence community, that is going to give policymakers the information they need to make the appropriate decisions, and it's also going to give very good information to our war fighters."

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The legislation is based on the 41 recommendations of the independent September 11th Commission that investigated the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

It establishes a new national intelligence director to oversee 15 agencies, including the CIA as well as those under the Pentagon. The CIA will continue, at least for now, to have a separate director.

It also sets up a national counter-terrorism center as a repository for information on terrorists, and contains measures to strengthen transportation and border security, as well as visa procedures.

Senator John Rockefeller, top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, describes it as being more than just moving boxes around in the U.S. intelligence community:

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"This is a profoundly important bill (and) one of the reasons for it is it will put an intense scrutiny from all of you (in the media), from all Americans, from all of us in the Congress, on what in fact happens as this new system evolves."

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In a disappointment for some Republicans, the legislation does not contain strong immigration-related provisions, including proposals to deny driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and toughen asylum guidelines.

As Republican Senator Susan Collins explains, these could have killed chances for the legislation passing this year:

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"We just could not let the most significant reforms of our intelligence community in 50 years go down because of controversy over issues that were not recommended by the September 11 commission and (that) were not central to the bill."

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President Bush had urged Republicans supporting these provisions, such as Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, to postpone such action until the new 109th Congress which begins in January. Republican leaders say they're committed to doing so.

There has also been widespread praise, from Democrats as well as Republicans, for President Bush's role in helping lawmakers overcome final disagreements.

Some of that came from California Democrat Jane Harman, who says Mr. Bush put to rest doubts he did not fully support intelligence reform:

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"It is a big deal to bring this Congress together, this Congress that has sadly been so polarized and I would say so dysfunctional, and this victory is a huge victory for bipartisanship."

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There have been mixed reactions from families of people who died in the September 2001 al-Qaida attacks.

Those who favored strong immigration provisions are disappointed, while others said it was absolutely crucial to pass intelligence reform this year to help defend against another terrorist attack such as that on September 11, 2001. (SIGNED)

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