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Bush authorizes secret federal police Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/12021766.htm http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/12021766.htm Posted on Thu, Jun. 30, 2005 Bush OKs spy agencies' shake-up INTELLIGENCE CHIEF TO CONTROL FBI UNIT; `SECRET POLICE' FEAR By Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus Washington Post WASHINGTON - President Bush ordered another major shake-up of the nation's intelligence services Wednesday, forming new national security divisions within both the FBI and the Justice Department and, for the first time, putting a broad swath of the FBI under the authority of the nation's spy chief. Building on previous reforms mandated by Congress, the reorganization cements the authority of the new director of intelligence, John Negroponte, over most of the FBI's $3 billion intelligence budget. It also gives him the clear authority to approve hiring of the FBI's top national security official and, through that official, to communicate with FBI agents and analysts in the field on intelligence matters. Civil liberties advocates immediately blasted the changes at the FBI, arguing that they represent a radical step toward creation of a secret police force in the United States. Many Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents had also fiercely opposed the changes, but were overruled by Bush's homeland security adviser, Frances Fragos Townsend, officials said. ``Spies and cops play different roles and operate under different rules for a reason,'' said Timothy Edgar, national security counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. ``The FBI is effectively being taken over by a spymaster who reports directly to the White House. . . . It's alarming that the same person who oversees foreign spying will now oversee domestic spying, too.'' ``Does that mean we have a secret police? Our concern is we could be going down that road,'' Edgar told Knight Ridder. ``What we could see is the spies in charge of the cops.'' Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller downplayed such concerns. Although Bush's memo gives Negroponte's office authority over the FBI's intelligence program, they said, he will not exercise authority over traditional criminal investigations conducted by the bureau. ``They're not going to be directing law enforcement,'' Gonzales said at a news conference. ``Every law enforcement official within the FBI is going to remain under the supervision and authority of the FBI director and ultimately the attorney general.'' As outlined in a memorandum to senior Cabinet officials, Bush adopted all but four of 74 recommendations made by a special intelligence commission headed by senior appellate Judge Laurence Silberman and former Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va. Bush also ordered the creation of a National Counter Proliferation Center, aimed at helping to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups and rogue states. In addition, a separate executive order released Wednesday allows the freezing of assets of individuals, groups or companies allegedly involved in weapons proliferation, including eight specific organizations in Iran, North Korea and Syria. The plans announced by the administration Wednesday mark the latest in a long series of reorganizations, new agencies and other changes that have roiled the government since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In addition to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI previously created a new Directorate of Intelligence and has expanded the number of agents, analysts and other staff dedicated to counterterrorism and counterintelligence. Under Bush's memo, the FBI will create a ``National Security Service'' by bringing together its counterintelligence, counterterrorism and intelligence divisions under one umbrella. The head of the new service will be hired by the FBI director and attorney general, but with the ``concurrence'' of Negroponte, who will fund the FBI's intelligence activities. The memo also said that Negroponte, ``through the head of the FBI's National Security Service, can effectively communicate with the FBI's field offices, resident agencies and any other personnel in the National Security Service.'' Across Pennsylvania Avenue at Main Justice, Gonzales will also pull together several intelligence and counterterrorism operations to form a new national security division, and Bush will ask Congress to allow the hiring of a new assistant attorney general to run it. Under longtime director J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI became notorious for spying on Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., political dissidents and suspected communists. That led to curbs on domestic surveillance. Mueller said he viewed the latest changes as ``the next step in our ability to protect the American public.'' ``I don't see it as a loss of independence at all,'' Mueller said. ``I see it as an acknowledgment and a furtherance of the development of the FBI to respond to the threats of today.'' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shannon McCaffrey of Knight Ridder contributed to this report.

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