  urlLink Finally some reform in the intelligence community ! Republican Senator Pat Roberts proposed a bill that would urlLink dismantle the CIA and place all operations under the control of a National Intelligence Director (NID). In his proposal the NID would be given budgeting powers over the departments of treasury, energy, homeland security, and defense intelligence. Also, the CIA's three main departments (science and technology, operations, and intelligence) would be split into three different organizations which would each be lead by an Assistant NID.
And finally the Pentagon would have to surrender control of it's three largest intelligence departments. Senator Robertson said he had support from eight out of the nine Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He had not discussed the plan with Democrats or the White House, although he has earned praise from many Democrats, including presidential hopeful John Kerry. The White House said it looked "forward to reviewing the details of Senator Robertson's proposal. " Although I doubt it will be met will approval from the White House. President Bush had planned on appointing a NID, but he had a different approach to the details from the NID's power.
The NID, under the president's plan would not be able to hire or fire anyone, would not have control over the intelligence budget, and would not be a cabinet member (But of course! Why would you want the head of national intelligence at your cabinet meetings? *note sarcasm). So basically under the president's plan the NID would be a figure-head appointed to make it look like he's working for reform in the intelligence community.
Question... Is it smart to give one man so much power? The Bush Administration's plan is bad because they give the NID no power, but Pat Robert's plan almost seems like it's a little too much. In other news... The Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth" have urlLink finally admitted that they don't have any proof to back up their claims. Okay? So why the hell is this still an issue? Oh right, because they keep airing the ads... oh okay... huh. Well those ads may be going off the air soon though, because urlLink recent evidence found by the Kerry campaign ties Bush to the Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth". Does this mean that the ads will stop? Probably not anytime soon. But atleast Kerry has the backing of the guys that actually served with him. urlLink Wayne D. Langhofer backed Kerry when he said that fire was coming from both sides of the river, contrary to the story given by the Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth". And FINALLY, under intense pressure from Democrats and Republicans alike, urlLink President Bush denouced the ads from the Swift Boat veterans. Although the Bush campaign did also write letters to television stations urlLink asking them not to air John Kerry's newest ads.
Which leads me to this... What the hell? Can they do that? TV stations can't pick and choose which canidate's ads they want to air! C'mon now! That's illegal use of the president's position. He can't influence the ads aired on TV by his opponents. If he has a problem he should take it up with the FEC (I'd love to see him get shot down). 
