WASHINGTON — President Bush’s new executive order revising rules for intelligence agencies expands the national intelligence director’s powers and may further erode the CIA’s traditional autonomy.
The order, revised in secret and signed Wednesday, is drawing criticism from civil-liberties groups and even lawmakers from the president’s own party.
House Republicans on the intelligence committee walked out of a Thursday morning briefing by the national intelligence director, Mike McConnell, on the order to protest what they consider the White House’s pattern of disrespect for congressional oversight.
The committee believes it has not been consulted or informed about critical intelligence matters. These include the executive order; Israel’s bombing of an alleged Syrian nuclear facility last summer; changes in U.S. intelligence on Iran; the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program; and the CIA’s destruction of interrogation videotapes.
The revisions reflect organizational changes in the intelligence agencies after the Sept. 11 attacks. Bush’s order lays out the relationships among 16 intelligence agencies.
The work was carried for more than a year amid a national debate, spurred by the wiretapping program, about the appropriate balance between civil liberties and security.
Even before the executive order was released Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union condemned it.
“We have secret laws governing secret agencies that are engaging in secret spying against Americans, and they’re using our own tax dollars to do it. This isn’t keeping us safer it’s only making all Americans suspects in the eyes of the government,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU’s legislative office in Washington.
The order directs the attorney general to develop guidelines so intelligence agencies have access to information held by other agencies. That potentially could include the sharing of sensitive information about Americans.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the revision maintains civil-liberties protections.
Critics note that Bush’s domestic wiretapping program, which some argue was illegal, occurred despite those stated protections.
