Forwarded from: William Knowles <wkat_private> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20594-2003Jul20.html By John Mintz Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, July 21, 2003 The intelligence unit of the four-month-old Department of Homeland Security is understaffed, unorganized and weak-willed in bureaucratic struggles with other government agencies, diminishing its role in pursuing terrorists, according to some members of Congress and independent national security experts. The vast majority of the department's intelligence analysts lack computers that are able to receive data classified "top secret" and above. The department has only three experts on biological terrorism, a number that lawmakers said falls far short of expectations, given U.S. officials' grave concern about that kind of attack. In passing the law establishing the department last year, Congress intended Homeland Security to be the focal point for handling intelligence to protect America from terrorists. The current controversy over its intelligence unit shows how elusive that goal has become since the Bush administration decided in January that the agency should not have the standing of the CIA or FBI in analyzing intelligence about terror threats. Homeland Security officials acknowledged growing pains in their intelligence wing, citing the difficulty of creating a full-fledged member of the U.S. intelligence community from scratch. They also point out that the head of their intelligence section, retired Marine Lt. Gen. Frank Libutti, was sworn in only on June 26. Libutti, the undersecretary in charge of the department's information analysis and infrastructure protection unit, said that far from avoiding its key missions, the intelligence wing is "aggressively, crisply" acting on them. Critics of the department in Congress and outside government gave Libutti high marks for moving quickly to address the complaints in his first days on the job. Frustration over the department's performance in intelligence work boiled over June 5, when Paul Redmond, then the head of Homeland Security's intelligence analysis unit, testified before the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. Redmond -- a storied 33-year CIA veteran who exposed some of the nation's most notorious traitors -- angered committee members who said he seemed cavalier in describing the department's limited progress in intelligence work. Redmond testified that his office then had only 26 analysts and lacked the secure communications lines required to receive many classified CIA and FBI reports. Asked when this would change, he replied, "That will depend on us getting larger quarters and things like that." Committee members said they had hoped the department would have several times that number of analysts by then, or at least a number closer to the several hundred CIA and FBI terrorism analysts. Committee members from both parties were incensed by what they viewed as the intelligence office's lethargy and lack of focus. "I'm going to be forgiving for a very limited amount of time," Chairman Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) said in an interview. Rep. Jim Turner (Tex.), the committee's ranking Democrat, told President Bush in a letter last month that "a disturbing hearing . . . revealed that there are serious problems" with the department's intelligence unit. The department, he wrote, "is not remotely close to having the tools it needs to meet its critical mandate." Redmond resigned three weeks after the hearing, citing his health. Members of Congress passed on their blunt observations to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who is hastening to address them, officials said. Cox said he was most frustrated that Homeland Security officials have accepted an arrangement in which the CIA, the FBI and the new Terrorist Threat Information Center (TTIC) pass intelligence reports about possible terrorist threats to the department. Homeland Security, in turn, analyzes the information and transmits warnings to state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as U.S. industry. Cox and a number of other members of Congress, such as Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), said that in last year's Homeland Security Act, which established the department, Congress intended that it would be responsible for sifting through terrorism intelligence and ensuring it was acted upon around the country. But now TTIC does most of that, leaving the department with the smaller job of tightening security on Main Street, USA. Last year the White House embraced the view of the CIA and the FBI, both of which argued that Homeland Security should not routinely thrust itself into the minutiae of raw intelligence. That position leaves Homeland Security whipsawed between its congressional overseers and the White House. Libutti, who most recently ran the New York City Police Department's 300-person counterterrorism squad, disputed the notion that his shop is a lightweight undertaking. "Information analysis and infrastructure protection is the center of gravity of this entire department," Libutti said. He said he does not have the luxury of wishing the White House had settled old intelligence debates differently, adding, "TTIC is a fact on the ground." Libutti also said he is swiftly recruiting intelligence analysts. Though there were 26 when Redmond testified last month, there are almost 50 now, a total that will double again in about seven months, Libutti said. One ally of Ridge in the administration said the Cox panel has self-serving reasons to publicize a showdown with the department. Because some House leaders want Cox's temporary committee terminated, the panel is "fighting for relevance," the Ridge ally said. Some in Congress want Ridge to fight harder for his department. He cultivates an image in the Cabinet as a team player, and insiders said he has not struggled behind closed doors for more clout in intelligence matters. "The department is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't," said Richard A. Clarke, who was a top White House counterterrorism official in the Clinton and Bush administrations until his recent departure to become a consultant. "The people in Congress who wrote the legislation creating the department wanted a 'Team B' analytical capability" that would reexamine every piece of terrorism intelligence assembled by the CIA and FBI, he said. But since the White House agreed with the FBI and CIA, he added, "that department is going to get squeezed and victimized." Ridge has had a hard time recruiting people for the department's intelligence jobs. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr., who runs the secret U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency, initially agreed to be Ridge's undersecretary for intelligence, but reversed himself after concluding the job lacked clout and resources, friends said. At the same time, the department is competing for intelligence professionals with the higher-profile FBI, CIA and TTIC. Libutti said he and Ridge are addressing another problem the Cox panel noted: Members of the intelligence team were crammed into offices so crowded they were not allowed to have many classified computer terminals. Offices handling sensitive material require spacious quarters that allow for thick walls and widely spaced computer terminals. Libutti said that in coming days his unit will move into one of the biggest buildings at the U.S. Navy facility that the Homeland Security Department occupies in Northwest Washington. He said there will be space for 250 analysts and links to secure telecommunications lines. Homeland Security officials also said they connect well with TTIC. Of TTIC's 75 analysts, seven are from Homeland Security. Ultimately, the department will have 30 analysts there, out of 300. Libutti said they have access to all the classified data they need. William H. Parrish, a retired Marine colonel who recently was named Redmond's acting successor, said TTIC and Homeland Security meshed well in May, in the hours after al Qaeda suicide bombers attacked several western residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 34. Soon after the synchronized strikes, in which terrorists rammed security gates, Homeland Security analysts at TTIC prepared warnings about the gate-crashing that were transmitted to state and local authorities, he said. "It's one of our success stories," Parrish said. *==============================================================* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ---------------------------------------------------------------- C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org ================================================================ Help C4I.org with a donation: http://www.c4i.org/contribute.html *==============================================================* - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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