Politicking with national security

Emperor Embicile just signed an order increasing the powers of the CIA Director, and just in time for the RNC.

Administration officials and congressional aides said the White House timed the actions to occur before next week's Republican National Convention, where the president will argue that he is better able than Democratic nominee John Kerry to protect the country.

The president "wanted this off his plate before the convention," said a Republican aide on Capitol Hill, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Seattle Times article

Because the important issue was that he can stand up at the convention and say, "I've just signed an important order to make America more securer."

And how nice that he's nominated a highly partisan sock puppet for Director of the CIA to whom he can give the increased power.

Oh No!! Not Porter Goss!!! Another Perle Stooge
Goss Backed '95 Bill to Slash Intelligence
MSNBC - Goss’s Wish List
Ray McGovern: Porter Goss as CIA Director?
Whiskey Bar: The Night Porter
CIA's new boss met former Pakistan ISI chief on 9/11 [who funded 9/11 hijacker Atta]
Porter Goss and 9/11

Who better to install in the office than someone who may be implicated in helping 9/11 to happen, and who, as Ray McGovern says, gave a new meaning to "oversight" by helping Tenet help the BushCons with false reports of WMD in Iraq?

Last month when Tenet was let go, administration officials indicated that a permanent replacement would not be named until after the election. They indicated they wanted to avoid washing the dirty linen of intelligence once again in public. Evidently, they had not yet checked with Karl Rove. -- Ray McGovern, July 2004

The move to enhance the CIA director's stature, however, falls far short of the Sept. 11 commission's recommendation for a national intelligence director with control over budget and personnel matters.

Some intelligence officials questioned how much impact Bush's order will have. In reality, the Pentagon controls roughly 90 percent of the intelligence budget, and many of the largest spy agencies, including the eavesdropping National Security Agency, report to the secretary of defense.

So, out of curiosity, if she reports to the SecDef, how come Ms. Condoliar is always by the Chimp's side wherever he goes? Could those rumors be correct?

Bush also directed the creation of a National Counter-Terrorism Center, ordered increased sharing of intelligence information and established a presidential board to safeguard civil liberties while combating terrorism.

The intelligence community long has had an interagency Counter-Terrorism Center and recently created a Terrorist Threat Integration Center.

In other words, he can say at the convention that he created more avenues and agencies for national security by signing a - redundant - order, taking credit for what the intelligence community has done. Who's to know?

A senior White House official, briefing reporters on the initiatives, portrayed them as a step toward the goal and the most Bush can do without legislation from Capitol Hill.

Of course. The one man struggle to make the world a safer place. But his hands are tied.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has offered a competing proposal to dismantle the CIA and reorganize its functions under a national intelligence director.

Roberts' Democratic counterpart, Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., yesterday issued a proposal that largely follows the Sept. 11 panel's recommendations.

Okay, Bush is doing whatever the hell he wants and can do under executive orders, and Roberts and Rockefeller are offering their own special proposals for increased national security. What the hell was the 9/11 Commission for?

I forget - is that the one I named the Worthless Commission or the Pointless Commission?