Last week famed investigative reporter Bob Woodward spoke at UB about his in-depth review of the Bush administration's decision-making process regarding the Iraq war. In light of reliance on what turned out to be faulty intelligence reports, Woodward said that intelligence reform is the most important issue facing Bush in his next term.
This weekend, in what is most likely the final session of the 108th Congress, House Republicans brought the reform process to a halt. House GOP leaders rejected a compromise in reforms that would have created a director of national intelligence and a counterterrorism center.
If the next Congress can overcome its anticipated partisan gridlock on just one issue, it should be this one. Poor intelligence prevented us from predicting the Sept. 11 attacks, and faulty intelligence told us there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The proposed reforms are the byproduct of the 9/11 Commission investigation, and were deemed critical by the panel in waging a successful war on terror. The next Congress and the Bush administration must alter their secretive ways and work wholeheartedly to improve the state of intelligence in the United States.
The Bush administration ran a winning campaign based almost solely upon their strong stance on terror. However, the administration is not doing everything within its power to adequately protect the United States from potential harm.
The best example of this aversion to reform was Bush's steadfast refusal to establish the 9/11 Commission on the thin grounds that it would jeopardize security with the public release of sensitive information. While eventually created by Congress, Bush continued to undermine the commission's authority by trying to deny funding, testifying and imposing unrealistic deadlines.
The bipartisan commission overcame all of these obstacles to provide mounds of valuable retrospective analysis of the inner workings of the U.S.'s ability to deal with the new threat of terrorism. The public hearings conducted also allowed the American public to heal and be assured that democratic processes where being followed in the wake of the emotional tragedy of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In replacing former CIA director George Tenet with Porter Goss, Bush has continued to politicize the intelligence community. Prior to his nomination, Goss was an extremely partisan Republican congressman and head of the House Intelligence Committee, whereas Tenet had never served in a political arena.
A recently leaked memo has shown Goss' intention to produce a CIA that is in step with Bush, saying that staff should "support the administration and its policies in our work." It is this kind of politically vetted intelligence that allowed the train wreck of the Iraq war to happen. It is a great disservice to the American people and the world community to continue this ineptitude.
Bush and the newly bolstered Republican congressional majority have paraded around on television claiming their willingness to cross the aisle and work with Democrats and American voters who were bitterly opposed to another Bush term. Unfortunately, this plan is off to a disappointing start. Although the election results are being interpreted as a mandate to carry out a conservative agenda, some issues like security are non-partisan and should be enacted without reserve or delay.
