Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)

Why Oh Why Are We Ruled by These Liars? (The 911 Commission Is Made Up of Unhappy Campers Edition)

The members of the 911 Commission are really annoyed at Bush's pretense of "accepting" their recommendations:

9/11 panel dismayed by Bush's reaction / INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: Director needs real clout, members say: Without the power to set budgets and hire and fire senior managers, the new intelligence czar will lack the clout to make major changes at the nation's 15 spy agencies, the commissioners told lawmakers at the first House hearing prompted by the panel's 567-page report on the Sept. 11 terror attacks. "The person that has the responsibility needs the authority," Democratic commissioner Bob Kerrey, a former Nebraska senator, told the House Government Reform Committee. "Absent that, they're not going to be able to get the job done." Republican commissioner John Lehman, a former Navy secretary who has been seen as a possible replacement for retiring CIA Director George Tenet, also urged the president to reconsider his proposal to base the director outside the White House. The commission recommended establishing the position within the White House to keep the director from being overshadowed by powerful Cabinet members, such as the defense secretary.

"Our recommendations are not a Chinese menu," Lehman said. "They are a whole system. If all of the important elements are not adopted, it makes it very difficult for the others to succeed." The testimony by the two commissioners, who were speaking for the 10- member bipartisan panel known officially as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, is likely to have significant influence with Congress, which must approve any legislation establishing the intelligence director.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, praised the president's support for a new intelligence director, but indicated he will back the commission's efforts to shake up the way intelligence is handled. "The key to success ... is making sure we're not simply repackaging what we have now," Davis said. "We need to avoid creating another layer of bureaucracy. We need to align authority with responsibility to make sure information is reaching all the people that it needs to reach."...

"In this city, if you have a fancy title, but you're not in the chain of command and you don't control the budget, you're a figurehead," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, the House Government Reform Committee's ranking Democrat. "Another figurehead is not what the 9/11 Commission recommended and what our nation needs."