Bush proposes new intelligence agency
From David Ensor and John King
CNN Washington Bureau
 |
Tenet will lead the new agency, according to sources.
Story Tools
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush proposed Tuesday creating a powerful new intelligence office to collect and analyze information garnered internationally and domestically.
The president made the proposal in his State of the Union address Tuesday evening.
Bush will put CIA Director George Tenet in charge of the new office, sources said. The change will mean that, for the first time, domestic intelligence gathered by the FBI and other agencies will be given to the new office at the CIA to be analyzed.
The new office is designed to fix communications problems between the FBI, the CIA and other agencies. A congressional probe concluded that poor communications between the agencies could have contributed to intelligence failures prior to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Officials said they do not think the president's intelligence center proposal requires legislative approval. An interagency group is scheduled to begin meetings Wednesday to work on the details of the new center.
For example, it is unclear what size the staff might be, although one official said he expects the staff to be "relatively small."
Another U.S. official called the president's decision a "very positive development" and said he expects the center to be operating "as quickly as possible."
