John Kerry's stance on CIA

CIA: After being accused of such intelligence failures as the 9/11 attacks and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, the 9/11 Commission has come up with several ways ensuring the CIA never has another mental breakdown. To find out exactly what this commission came up with go to page 22 of the following webpage:

John Kerry:

Description of candidate's position: John Kerry agrees completely with the 9/11 commission, especially with the appointment of a national security director. He believes that we need to move quickly on all recommendations to ensure the safety of our country. Kerry believes that Bush did not act quickly enough and that simply expanding the powers of the existing of central intelligence is a far cry from creating a true national intelligence director with real control over personnel and budgets.

Quotation from the candidate: "But the most important position is one that hasn't been created yet, National Intelligence Director with real control of budgets and personnel. We need to move urgently on this and other recommendations by the 9/11 Commission to make America safer. The most important thing we can do right now is reform and strengthen our intelligence services as the 9/11 Commission has recommended. I hope that Congressman Goss shares this view and will now support the creation of this important post." From the Kerry website.

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: Senator Pat Roberts from Kansas has been very instrumental in regarding this restructuring and has introduced a bill to reform the intelligence community entitled "The 9/11 National Security Protection Act. Senator Roberts believes that "the current structure of the U.S. Intelligence Community is defective. The so called Director of Central Intelligence, or DCI, lacks the authority to effectively manage the intelligence activities of the United States". He believes we must create a strong, empowered National Intelligence Director who is separated from the day to day management of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Negative: Former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, warned Congress that having domestic foreign intelligence under one person might be a problem. He said that "Creating an intelligence czar with domestic surveillance authority that is not under the attorney general, and measures that separate domestic intelligence from law enforcement, go against all the lessons that democratic governments have learned the hard way."

Comparison: Both the President and John Kerry believe that our current intelligence programs must be restructured. They both have taken in account and agree with the recommendations given by the 9/11 Commission. Senator Kerry believes we must act quickly to enact their recommendations in order to ensure a safer America. The Bush Administration believes that this reform will establish an intelligence structure to protect America for years to come, and it is important to get it right. President Bush has however already implemented 36 of the 41 recommendations given by the 9/11 Commission.

Link to Bush's issue page.