Memo in which intelligence nominee questions a stronger role may slow his confirmation
By Kimberly Dozier, APWednesday, June 9, 2010
Memo may slow Senate vote on spy chief nomination
WASHINGTON — The disclosure of a memo in which President Barack Obama’s nominee for national intelligence director questions whether that position should have new powers threatens to derail the speedy confirmation the president seeks.
Congressional staffers say the memo is viewed by top-tier members of the Senate Intelligence Committee as lending credence to concerns that James R. Clapper would not buck Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who brought Clapper to the Pentagon after he was appointed in 2006 by President George W. Bush. Clapper is head of the Pentagon’s intelligence services.
The senators’ reaction to the memo, written about a month before Obama picked him for the job, suggests they are unlikely to confirm Clapper by July as Obama hopes, according to the staffers. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the confirmation process is private.
The April 24 memo, obtained by The Associated Press, details Clapper’s objections to 17 provisions of the 2010 intelligence authorization bill. It would provide a larger budget and more executive power to the director of national intelligence, or DNI, who oversees the government’s 16 intelligence agencies.
Gates already controls 80 percent of the reported $50 billion annual budget for the intelligence community.
Clapper’s memo raises concerns that the new provisions “would grant the DNI the authority to make unilateral decisions on certain management issues,” without making sure the defense secretary first agreed with them.
For instance, the memo says the act would require the DNI to assess foreign language proficiency across all the spy agencies, including those under the Defense Department. In the memo, Clapper warns that the proposal could interfere with the defense secretary’s “management of personnel with foreign language skills in DoD intelligence components.”
Under another provision, the DNI would conduct personnel assessments across the intelligence community, to see if each agency had the manpower it needed for the job at hand. Clapper’s memo objects to that, too, and objects to a provision requiring the DNI to ensure that all agencies, including those run by the Pentagon, operate in an energy-efficient way.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Wednesday that the document does not represent Clapper’s total thinking about the role of the DNI. It was simply a bureaucratic exercise by Clapper’s staff that represents a narrow response to a request about how draft legislation would affect the authorities of defense secretary, Vietor said.
The chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has already voiced misgivings over Clapper as intelligence director and says she would ask for his views on the bill’s provisions “and whether he believes a stronger DNI would weaken the authorities of the secretary of defense.”
Feinstein says her first priority is passing the intelligence authorization act. Meanwhile, Clapper is scheduled to meet senators privately before the end of the week.
