U.S. Congress Approves Sweeping Intelligence Bill, page 1

In an 89-2 vote in the Senate congress has passed a bill that brings sweeping change to various United States intelligence agencies. The bill empowers a new overseer of the various agencies. This is the last act of the current congress, which stayed for a few days past its scheduled break to make compromises in order to pass the bill.

story.news.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress approved the biggest overhaul of U.S. intelligence agencies in over 50 years on Wednesday, sending the bill that creates a new director of national intelligence demanded after Sept. 11 to President Bush

The Senate voted an overwhelming 89-2 for the bill despite concerns by some lawmakers that the power of the new spy director falls short of what the Sept. 11 Commission recommended. The House of Representatives approved the bill on Tuesday despite opposition from some of Bush's own Republicans because some immigration measures were omitted .

In addition to a new spy director, the legislation creates a national counterterrorism center to plan and help oversee security operations. It also includes measures to shore up border security and give law enforcement new anti-terror tools.

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While on the surface this seems like I good idea to me, I havn't had the opportunity to study the bill in depth. It does make sense to me to have an overseer of the various agencies to enable the sharing of intelligence. Lack of cooperation between agencies is sited as one of the numerous reasons 9-11 was able to happen.

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[edit on 8-12-2004 by Spectre]