Collins to seek budget power for intelligence chief

WASHINGTON – Senate leaders want to create a strong national intelligence director with budgetary authority but would leave the Pentagon in charge of some military spy agencies, The Associated Press learned Tuesday.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and the panel’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, plan to create an intelligence director position that has full power to decide how his or her agencies spend their money, a congressional aide familiar with the situation said.

The Senate committee’s plan will not look exactly like the 9-11 commission’s proposal for the national intelligence director, but “we have created a very strong chief intelligence adviser for the president,” the aide said.

The military, however, would keep control of some of the largest intelligence agencies under the Senate committee plan, which the 9-11 commission wanted the new national intelligence director to control.

The Pentagon would lose budgetary control over the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates spy satellites; and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which analyzes satellite pictures. However, the Defense Department would keep control of the Defense Intelligence Agency, which collects intelligence for military planning and operations.

Collins and Lieberman plan to make public on Wednesday an outline of the legislation that the Government Affairs Committee will vote on next week with the actual text not being released until Monday at the earliest.

Some details have yet to be worked out and could still change, the aide told the AP. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because Collins and Lieberman had wanted to wait until Wednesday to announce their legislation.

Collins and Lieberman’s spokeswomen declined to comment Tuesday.