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Bush considers speedy moves on 911 report Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/384920|top|07-26-2004::18:10|reuters.htmlhttp://news.myway.com/top/article/id/384920|top|07-26-2004::18:10|reuters.html
Bush Considers Speedy Moves on 9/11 Report
Jul 26, 6:03 PM (ET)
By Caren Bohan
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush and his top advisers discussed ways to speed enactment of the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations and could move within days on measures that do not have to go through Congress, U.S. officials said on Monday.
Bush is under political pressure in an election year to respond to the commission's recommendations amid fears of another attack. While at his Texas ranch, where he is spending the week, Bush spoke via video conference with top aides about the 9/11 report.
The president hoped to put some of the measures on a "fast-track" through executive order, White House spokesman Claire Buchan said.
On some of the recommendations, "the president could certainly act within days," Buchan said.
Vice President Dick Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Attorney General John Ashcroft, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage were among those on the call.
Rice was to travel to Texas later in the day to discuss the report with Bush.
The commission report, released last week, found that "deep institutional failings" by the U.S. government led to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The president originally opposed the creation of the commission.
Cheney signaled that the administration may not rush to embrace all aspects of the report. "We're at the beginning here of what should be a great debate," he told donors in Kennewick, Washington.
Of the 9/11 report, Cheney said: "I don't agree with absolutely everything that's in it."
Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry has largely embraced the commission's recommendations for restructuring the government, but Bush last week had said he wanted to study the report before deciding on what to do.
'TIME NOT ON U.S. SIDE'
One factor adding to pressure on Bush was a warning by commission Chairman Thomas Kean that "time is not on our side" in heading off another attack on U.S. soil. Kean has said that al Qaeda is determined to launch an attack and if it can, it will try to use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
A contentious issue that Bush will need to tackle will be whether to endorse the creation of a new post of national intelligence director, which would oversee all U.S. intelligence agencies.
Some members of Bush's administration have expressed misgivings about that proposal but in recent days some officials have signaled greater openness to it. One concern would be ensuring the position's independence from the White House, said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Signaling the urgency with politicians are responding to the commission's report, Congress is planning to hold rare hearings during its August recess to discuss it. Senate leaders said they hoped to have a bipartisan bill ready by Oct. 1 addressing the proposal for a national intelligence director.
Bush has focused his campaign for re-election largely on the argument he has made America safer after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The president had a big advantage in the polls over Kerry on the issue of homeland security, but lost some of it because of unease over the war in Iraq. One of Kerry's key aims is to chip away at that even further, his aides have said.
(Additional reporting by Adam Entous)
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