**DONOTDELETE**
09-15-2001, 10:47 AM
September 15, 2001
Inside Report: Unhappy on the Hill
WASHINGTON -- Senior members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, maintain a unified public facade confronting a national crisis but are unhappy that they are not being fully briefed by the Bush administration.
They grumble that Cabinet members sent to Capitol Hill to brief the lawmakers are delivering political speeches to them instead of dispensing information. Attorney General John Ashcroft is designated as the worst offender. Old congressional hands unfavorably compare their treatment by the president with how well his father kept them informed during the Gulf War. Administration officials privately explain that they don't trust members of Congress to protect confidential information. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are both furious with Sen. Orrin Hatch, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, for leaking information from communications intercepts.
CHANGE AT CIA?
The massive intelligence failure in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack is likely to prove the end of George Tenet's tenure as CIA director, according to members of congressional intelligence committees.
In the interest of national unity, Tenet's critics are keeping quiet. But there is a growing consensus both in the Bush administration and on Capitol Hill that a change is needed at the Central Intelligence Agency...
DEFENSE DEBATE
The mood of bipartisan unity created by the terrorist attack may soon be broken by a Democratic effort to shift defense spending from President Bush's national missile defense to anti-terrorist programs.
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has not abandoned his fight against national missile defense and may now have a stronger hand because of Tuesday's calamities.
Republicans in Congress face a dilemma. If they vote for the defense bill at a time of national crisis even though it reduces funds for national missile defense, they would be voting for a measure that severely cuts one of President Bush's top priorities.
Contact Robert Novak
©2001 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
From Townhall.com (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20010915.shtml)
Inside Report: Unhappy on the Hill
WASHINGTON -- Senior members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, maintain a unified public facade confronting a national crisis but are unhappy that they are not being fully briefed by the Bush administration.
They grumble that Cabinet members sent to Capitol Hill to brief the lawmakers are delivering political speeches to them instead of dispensing information. Attorney General John Ashcroft is designated as the worst offender. Old congressional hands unfavorably compare their treatment by the president with how well his father kept them informed during the Gulf War. Administration officials privately explain that they don't trust members of Congress to protect confidential information. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are both furious with Sen. Orrin Hatch, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, for leaking information from communications intercepts.
CHANGE AT CIA?
The massive intelligence failure in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack is likely to prove the end of George Tenet's tenure as CIA director, according to members of congressional intelligence committees.
In the interest of national unity, Tenet's critics are keeping quiet. But there is a growing consensus both in the Bush administration and on Capitol Hill that a change is needed at the Central Intelligence Agency...
DEFENSE DEBATE
The mood of bipartisan unity created by the terrorist attack may soon be broken by a Democratic effort to shift defense spending from President Bush's national missile defense to anti-terrorist programs.
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has not abandoned his fight against national missile defense and may now have a stronger hand because of Tuesday's calamities.
Republicans in Congress face a dilemma. If they vote for the defense bill at a time of national crisis even though it reduces funds for national missile defense, they would be voting for a measure that severely cuts one of President Bush's top priorities.
Contact Robert Novak
©2001 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
From Townhall.com (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20010915.shtml)