Via
UPI:
By Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
Published 8/16/2004 10:44 AM
WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush, in an apparent reversal, has decided that the new national intelligence director recommended by the Sept. 11 Commission should have the budgetary and hire-fire authority that the commission wanted, one of the ten commissioners told United Press International.
"I have very good reason to believe that is what the president intends," John Lehman, the Reagan-era Navy secretary said Sunday, confirming reports from a handful of journalists briefed Friday by a senior White House official. Lehman declined to elaborate on his reasons.
The commission recommended that the new director should have budgetary and hire-fire power over the whole community.
"There are only two phrases that really give you power in this town," commission member Tim Roemer, a former Democratic congressman, told UPI recently: "'Here's your money,' and 'You're fired.'"
But when the president announced Aug. 2 he would ask Congress to create the new post, he said the director "ought to be able to coordinate budgets." Elaborating later, White House Chief of Staff Andy Card said the director "would have significant input into the development of a budget," adding later that he would develop a budget "consistent with other agencies."
Why is it that when Kerry changes his mind, the media cries "flip-flop", but for Bush, it is "u-turns" or "reversal"? Never mind, rhetorical question...