20 minutes ago Top Stories - Los Angeles Times
By Mary Curtius Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — President Bush (news - web sites) on Monday won crucial backing for a bill to put the nation's intelligence agencies under a single director's control, setting the stage for congressional passage this week.
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The White House secured the support of House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) by changing the bill's language to ensure that the military's access to intelligence from satellites or other sources would not be impeded by a national intelligence czar. Senate negotiators said they had devised the language and that Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) had lobbied Hunter over the weekend.
Hunter's support was thought to guarantee that a majority of House Republicans would vote for the bill, even though another prominent committee chairman — Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (news, bio, voting record) Jr. (R-Wis.) — said he continued to oppose it.
Passage of the bill would be a political victory for Bush, who has urged Congress to create a national intelligence director with authority over the budgets and personnel of America's 15 spy agencies.
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