“We need an independent entity to integrate the intelligence from all the agencies,” said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an early sponsor of the law that set up Homeland Security. “This is not what Congress had in mind.” A Homeland Security Department official suggested that Democratic presidential hopefuls like Lieberman are simply “grandstanding.” But GOP senator Susan Collins also says the administration’s latest plan needs “clarification.” A Homeland Security official acknowledged that under the administration’s plan, all analysis of raw intelligence will be done at the center headed by Tenet and that only finished analyses will be “kicked back” to Homeland Security officials responsible for adjusting security measures to answer new threats. Congressional officials worry that the new center is simply a repackaging of an old CIA-FBI liaison relationship that, under Tenet’s CIA stewardship, fumbled clues that might have uncovered the 9-11 hijacking plot. A CIA spokesman had no comment.
Even as Homeland Security officials announced last week that they were lowering the nations’ official terror-alert status from Code Orange (high threat) to Code Yellow (elevated threat), some intelligence officials made it clear they believe the risk of an attack is still formidable. A CIA official said it was not his agency’s “call to decide on the color” of the alert. When asked for their advice about whether the high alert should be lowered, the CIA official added, “We told them we continue to see a fairly significant threat out there.”
