Negroponte to have Bush's ear--but little budget authority (rummy's turf)

[rodeodance]

from an newsletter email I recieved (clickables to the stories)

today's papers
Negroappointee
By Eric Umansky
Posted Friday, Feb. 18, 2005, at 1:15 AM PT

Everybody leads with President Bush nominating ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte as intelligence czar, whose job will be to oversee the U.S.'s 15 intel agencies, at least on paper. The president also named a deputy intel director: Air Force Lt. Gen. Mike Hayden, currently head of the massive National Security Agency.

As hammered out by the White House and Congress last year, the new position has at best ambiguous authority. One former CIA lawyer told the Los Angeles Times, "The bill has given the a lot of authorities, but it has not taken authority away from existing Cabinet officers." The Washington Post notes that Negroponte will only be in direct control of a few hundred employees. And as Slate's Fred Kaplan explains, he won't have pink-slip powers over agencies nor control of their budgets. The biggest barrier to centralized control--besides the law itself--is the Pentagon, which controls about 80 percent of the intel budget.

Given the lack of concrete power for the new position, the papers look to Bush's comments for hints about whether Negroponte will get the next best thing: the president's ear. "When the intelligence briefings start in the morning, John will be there," promised Bush. One "administration official" told the LAT that won't be good enough, "Where's his political backing? In Congress? No. From the Republican Party? No. He's not in the Cabinet. Are Cabinet officers really going to report to him on anything?"

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1. Just What * Needs...Another Filter Between Himself & the Truth

So now, every single tidbit of intelligence generated by the various agencies gets filtered through 'Death Squad' Negroponte's sensibilities as to what the prez needs to know...and what * doesn't need to trouble his pretty little head. The POTUS needs MORE intelligence (and not just in the literal sense) - not LESS!

[izzie]

2. Sounds like fun as it will be run by the DOD.

Bush will need another loan for this. Is this new dept in the budget yet?