New CIA Director Wants Power to Spy On, Arrest, U.S. Citizens

[Guest guest]

>

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_5040.shtml

>

> New CIA Director Wants Power to Spy On, Arrest, U.S.

> Citizens

 

> By MICHAEL ISIKOFF & MARK HOSENBALL

> Newsweek

 

> Aug 16, 2004, 07:20

>

> Rep. Porter Goss, President Bushs nominee to head

> the CIA, recently introduced

> legislation that would give the president new

> authority to direct CIA agents to

> conduct law-enforcement operations inside the United

> States including arresting

> American citizens.

>

> The legislation, introduced by Goss on June 16 and

> touted as an intelligence

> reform bill, would substantially restructure the

> U.S. intelligence community

> by giving the director of Central Intelligence (DCI)

> broad new powers to

> oversee its various components scattered throughout

> the government.

>

> But in language that until now has not gotten any

> public attention, the Goss

> bill would also redefine the authority of the DCI in

> such a way as to

> substantially alter if not overturn a 57-year-old

ban

> on the CIA conducting

> operations inside the United States.

>

> The language contained in the Goss bill has alarmed

> civil-liberties advocates.

> It also today prompted one former top CIA official

> to describe it as a

> potentially dramatic change in the guidelines that

> have governed U.S.

> intelligence operations for more than a half

> century.

>

> This language on its face would have allowed

> President Nixon to authorize the

> CIA to bug the Democratic National Committee

> headquarters, Jeffrey H. Smith,

> who served as general counsel of the CIA between

> 1995 and 1996, told NEWSWEEK.

> I cant imagine what Porter had in mind.

>

> Goss himself could not be reached for comment today.

> But a congressional source

> familiar with the drafting of Gosss bill said the

> language reflects a concern

> that he and others in the U.S. intelligence

> community sharethat the lines

> between foreign and domestic intelligence have

> become increasingly blurred by

> the war on terrorism.

>

> At the time he introduced the bill, Goss thought the

> 9/11 commission might

> recommend the creation of a new domestic

> intelligence agency patterned after

> Britains M.I.5. The commission ended up rejecting

> such a proposal on

> civil-liberties grounds. But in his bill Goss wanted

> to give the DCI and a

> newly empowered CIA the flexibilityif directed by

> the presidentto oversee and

> even conduct whatever domestic intelligence and

> law-enforcement operations

> might be needed to combat the terrorism threat, the

> congressional official

> said.

>

> This is just a proposal, said the congressional

> official familiar with the

> drafting of Gosss bill. It was designed as a point

> of discussion, a point of

> debate. Its not carved in stone.

>

> But other congressional staffers predicted that the

> Goss bill, even if it has

> little chance of passage, is likely to get

> substantial scrutiny at his upcoming

> confirmation hearingsin part as an opportunity to

> explore his own attitudes

> toward civil liberties.

>

> Those hearings are already expected to be unusually

> contentious partly because

> of concerns among Democrats that the Florida

> Republican, a former CIA officer

> himself who has chaired the House Intelligence

> Committee, has been too partisan

> and too close to the Bush White House. But so far,

> most staffers expect Goss to

> be confirmed eventuallyif only because Democrats are

> loath to appear overly

> obstructionist on a matter that might be portrayed

> as central to national

> security.

>

> The Goss bill tracks current law by stating that the

> DCI shall collect,

> coordinate and direct the collection of intelligence

> by the U.S.

> government except that the CIA may not exercise

> police, subpoena, or law

> enforcement powers within the United States.

>

> The bill then adds new language after that clause,

> however, saying that the

> ban on domestic law-enforcement operations applies

> except as otherwise

> permitted by law or as directed by the president.

>

> In effect, one former top U.S. intelligence

> community official told NEWSWEEK,

> the language in the Goss bill would enable the

> president to issue secret

> findings allowing the CIA to conduct covert

> operations inside the United

> Stateswithout even any notification to Congress. The

> former official said the

> proposal appeared to have been generated by Gosss

> staff on the House

> Intelligence Committee, adding that the language

> raises the question: If you

> cant control a staff of dozens, how are you going to

> control the tens of

> thousands of people who work for the U.S.

> intelligence community?

>

> A CIA spokeswoman said today that, while familiar

> with the provision, she was

> not aware of any agency official seeking such a

> modification to the

> longstanding ban on the CIA from conducting domestic

> law-enforcement

> operations. (Ever since the creation of the CIA in

> 1947, the agency has been

> excluded from federal law-enforcement within the

> United States. That function

> was left to the FBIwhich must operate in conformity

> to domestic laws and, in

> more recent years, under guidelines promulgated by

> the attorney general

> designed to insure protection of the rights of

> citizens.)

>

> Sean McCormack, a White House spokesman, said the

> presidents own proposal for

> the creation of a national intelligence

> directorseparate from the director of

> the CIAto oversee the entire U.S. intelligence

> community does not envision any

> change along the lines called for in the Goss bill.

> I have not heard any

> discussion of that, said McCormack about the idea of

> allowing the CIA to

> operate domestically.

>

> Some congressional staffers speculated today that

> Goss most likely had reached

> an understanding with President Bush that, if

> Congress does create the new

> position of a national intelligence director, he

> would move into that position

> rather than serve in the No. 2 position of CIA

> director. Asked if such a deal

> had been reached, McCormack responded: Nothing has

> been ruled in or out.

>

> Goss introduced his legislation, H.R. 4584, on June

> 16before the September 11

> commission issued its own recommendations for the

> creation of a national

> intelligence director as well as a new National

> Counterterrorism Center that

> would conduct joint operational planning of

> counterterrorism operations

> involving both the FBI inside the United States and

> the CIA abroad. The

> congressional official familiar with the Goss bill

> pointed to that proposal as

> a recognition of the increasingly fuzzy lines

> between foreign intelligence

> operations and domestic law enforcement.

>

> The proposal comes at a time when the Pentagon is

> also seeking new powers to

> conduct intelligence operations inside the United

> States. A proposal, adopted

> last spring by the Senate Intelligence Committee at

> the request of the

> Pentagon, would eliminate a legal barrier that has

> sharply restricted the

> Defense Intelligence Agency and other Pentagon

> intelligence agencies from

> recruiting sources inside the United States.

>

> That restriction currently requires that Pentagon

> agencies be covered by the

> Privacy Act, meaning that they must notify any

> individual they contact as to

> who they are talking to and what the agency is

> talking to them aboutand then

> keep records of any information they collect about

> U.S. citizens. These are

> then subject to disclosure to those citizens.

> Pentagon officials say this has

> made it all but impossible for them to recruit

> intelligence sources and conduct

> covert operations inside the countryintelligence

> gathering, they say, that is

> increasingly needed to protect against any

> potential terror threats to U.S.

> military bases and even contractors. But critics

> have charged the new provision

> could open the door for the Pentagon to spy on U.S.

> citizensa concern that some

> said today is only amplified by the language in the

> Goss bill.

>

>

> Olympic Threats

> How serious is the terror threat to the Olympics?

> Because Greece has a long and

> intricate coastline with dozens of islands, the

> country is viewed as relatively

> vulnerable to infiltration. And while security for

> Olympic venues is tight,

> Athens presents a whole range of civilian " soft

> targets " that are less well

> protected.

>

> Nevertheless, U.S. intelligence officials tell

> NEWSWEEK, its not Al Qaeda they

> are most worried about. Instead, officials say the

> most imminent threat to the

> peace of the games is anarchist and

> antiglobalization activists of the type who

> caused significant violence and property damage at a

> summit several years ago

> in Seattle. Officials believe such protestors plan

> to swarm Athens and conduct

> a campaign of disruption and vandalism.

>

> Its not that officials are complacent. But sources

> say that the chatter they

> are picking up on Al Qaeda-linked Web sites is

> focused more on targeting the

> United States mainland and American interests abroad

> than on possible threats

> against the Olympics.

>

> Specific Al Qaeda threats to the U.S., to U.S.

> interests abroad and to

> countries working with Washington in Iraq are

> regarded by American intelligence

> as more foreboding than possible threats to the

> Olympics. Several months ago,

> Osama bin Laden issued a message threatening to

> attack countries which did not

> withdraw from Iraq within 90 days, a deadline which

> expired in July. " I think

> we will be seeing some serious attempts to make good

> on that promise, " a senior

> U.S. counterterror official told NEWSWEEK. But the

> official said he was unaware

> of any more specific threat that bin Laden made

> against the Olympics.

> © 2004 Newsweek, Inc.

>

>

>