Do you support the intelligence reform bill?

[The Duke]

I don't.  I think its a mistake, a re-arranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Since no one here has posted one thread that I've seen on this issue until now, one has to wonder about Bush's feeling that he had to support this for his political sake.  Apparently no one cares.  This seems to be a mostly inside the beltway issue.  This makes me worry that Bush has lost touch with America (and reality?) after four years in the Presidential cocoon (an easy fate to succumb to).

[Gabu]

Is that the one that was, like, 3,000 pages long?

If so, I don't know because I have no idea what it does.

[??????????]

No, it seems like it was rushed through. I applaud the Congressional Republicans for giving it so much flak.

[J-Mann]

The serious questions that were put to this bill only scratched the surface.  Sensenbrenner was right to not support it because of issues that it failed to address.

Federal Republicanism is meant to be a rather slow process, and this reform bill was terribly rushed.  Instead of being a product of well thought-out debate, it is rather a product of the ever-increasing impatience of American society.  We want things done now, now, NOW.  I find it disheartening that so many in both the House and Senate just blindly and immediately supported the 9/11 Commission's findings without really tackling this issue.

[patrick1]

No, it just adds another layer of bureaucracy.  Opposing it though would be political suicide.  Change is certainly needed but I think this will fail. I hope I am wrong.

[John Dibble]

The serious questions that were put to this bill only scratched the surface.  Sensenbrenner was right to not support it because of issues that it failed to address.

Federal Republicanism is meant to be a rather slow process, and this reform bill was terribly rushed.  Instead of being a product of well thought-out debate, it is rather a product of the ever-increasing impatience of American society.  We want things done now, now, NOW.  I find it disheartening that so many in both the House and Senate just blindly and immediately supported the 9/11 Commission's findings without really tackling this issue.

Ditto.

[David S]

Does anyone have a link to the actual text of the bill as it now stands?

[Beet]

No, it seems like it was rushed through. I applaud the Congressional Republicans for giving it so much flak.

So do I. The bill was passed so quickly only for political reasons.

[Smash255]

Changes needed to be made and we couldn't really afford to wait a long time in order to all be on the same page.  The bill definatley needed to be looked at time & time again, it can't be something that gets passed that we don't look at deeply or look at the effectiveness of it.  The bill isn't perfect far from it, but the importance in making the changes is too great.  If we wait for everything to be perfect who knows how long that would take.  Anyway its just to important to do that, but we constantly have to re-visit this bill & look on ways of making the improvements, but at least we have something now

[A18]

I'm worried we're just going to create another level of bureaucracy.

[Hitchabrut]

Yes. Now, I agree with Sensenbrenner about drivers licenses, but that's not important right now. 9-11 could've been avoided if these organizations werew already combined and weren't hiding information from each other because of old rivalries.

[The Duke]

Yes. Now, I agree with Sensenbrenner about drivers licenses, but that's not important right now. 9-11 could've been avoided if these organizations werew already combined and weren't hiding information from each other because of old rivalries.

This does not bring the CIA and FBI together (the two agencies that did not communicate before 9/11), nor does it make the other intelligence agencies a single agency (It merely provides the NID with budget authority over them), nor are all of the agencies that are involved related to domestic security (DIA is purely military operational intelligence).

[David S]

John
Do you have a link to the bill or the source for what the bill contains? I'd like to read it before I comment.

[The Duke]

John
Do you have a link to the bill or the source for what the bill contains? I'd like to read it before I comment.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:35:./temp/~c108dXgvlm::

I think this is it, though it might not be the final version that actually passed.