GOP lawmakers angered by Bush's latest intelligence reform changes

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- House Republicans Thursday walked out of a briefing by the director of national intelligence, Michael McConnell, about new rules President Bush has signed for U.S. spy agencies, complaining that details had been leaked to the media before being told to Congress.

"I didn't want to waste my time, or the time of the director of national intelligence," Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told United Press International.

"You can't give me a highly technical, 40-page document 15 minutes before the briefing starts and expect me to understand what's in it and have an intelligent discussion about it," Hoekstra said.

The document is a revised version of one of the better-known presidential executive orders -- EO 12333. The order, signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, laid out the structure of the sprawling and sometimes quarrelsome collection of agencies that insiders call the intelligence community.

But the document, which was last amended in 2004, was outdated by Congress when it created the new post of director of national intelligence.

The revised version of the order "clarifies the authorities granted to the DNI … in areas where he thought clarifications were necessary for him to further integrate the intelligence community," a senior administration official told UPI.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity on a conference call arranged for reporters by the White House press office.

Among other changes, the revised order gives the DNI new powers to remove, or recommend the removal of, some categories of senior officials.

The order also gives the DNI new powers in two areas that traditionally have been the purview of the CIA and its director.

He is given new authorities over relationships with foreign intelligence services and given oversight of covert actions.

"It is a boost for the DNI," said Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, "but not a gross departure from the status quo."

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he supported the order's efforts to strengthen the DNI's authorities "and end the turf wars that have plagued American intelligence," but he also echoed Hoekstra's frustration about the lack of consultation with Congress.

"I am deeply disappointed that the president did not seek congressional or public input into this document," he said in a statement, adding the committee was shown the order only "after it was complete and on its way to the president for his signature."

Reyes pointed out that the order "will be binding on future administrations as well," adding the committee would study the matter "so that we can advise the next president of whether this order should remain in effect or should be repealed."

Hoekstra said the final document had been available for at least 24 hours before the briefing, and "relatively complete drafts" had been available to "people within the executive branch" for at least eight days.

"Don't give it to me after you've given it to the press," said Hoekstra. "This is the Intelligence Committee and they are talking to the media first. That's wrong."

He said it was part of a pattern of behavior, citing a briefing on a Syrian nuclear facility earlier this year that he said also had been given to the press first. "That's how this administration and this intelligence community works."

Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the DNI, said officials had "been briefing congressional oversight committees for the past two and a half weeks on this executive order."

A Hoekstra aide said five GOP members left with him. "He told them what he was going to do, and there was a consensus that a message needed to be sent."

The new authorities will "strengthen the DNI's ability to lead the IC as a unified enterprise," McConnell's office said in a statement, but they also give him powers in two areas that traditionally have been the purview of the CIA.

The new order says the DNI "may enter into intelligence and counterintelligence arrangements and agreements with foreign governments and international organizations" and "shall formulate policies" concerning such arrangements -- two powers that previously were the responsibility of the CIA director.

The DNI is also given the authority to oversee covert actions and advise the president and the National Security Council about them.