Goss Backed '95 Bill to Slash Intelligence (slash human intel by 20%

[papau]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27092-2004Aug23.html

Goss Backed '95 Bill to Slash Intelligence (slash human intel by 20%)
Plan Would Have Cut Personnel 20%

By Dana Milbank Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 24, 2004; Page A03

<snip>Goss, who has been chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for the past eight years, was one of six original co-sponsors of legislation in 1995 that called for cuts of at least 4 percent per year between 1996 and 2000 in the total number of people employed throughout the intelligence community.

The legislation, part of a wide-ranging budget-cutting measure that included abolishing the Energy Department and privatizing the air traffic control system, never received a vote. But the nine-year-old legislation, exhumed by Democrats, presents a political hurdle for Goss.

The Bush reelection campaign has been blasting Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry as deeply irresponsible for proposing intelligence cuts at the same time. A Bush campaign ad released on Aug. 13 carried a headline: "John Kerry . . . proposed slashing Intelligence Budget 6 Billion Dollars."

But the cuts Goss supported are larger than those proposed by Kerry and specifically targeted the "human intelligence" that has recently been found lacking. The recent report by the commission probing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks called for more spending on human intelligence.

Kerry, in September 1995, proposed a five-year, $1.5 billion cut in the intelligence budget, about 1 percent of the overall intelligence budget. But three months earlier, on June 22, Goss was one of six original co-sponsors of legislation titled H.R. 1923, called the Restructuring a Limited Government Act. Among other things, the legislation, written by then-Rules Committee Chairman Gerald B.H. Solomon (R-N.Y.), directed that "the president shall, for each of fiscal years 1996 through 2000, reduce the total number of military and civilian personnel employed by, or assigned or detailed to, elements of the Intelligence Community by not less than 4 percent of the baseline number" of employees on Sept. 30, 1995. <snip>


BUSH'S CIA NOMINEE TRIED TO GUT KEY INTELLIGENCE PROGRAMS

President Bush has repeatedly criticized his opponent<1> for joining with Republicans to slightly reduce funding for intelligence after the end of the Cold War.<2> But a new report shows that the President recently nominated a
CIA Director who tried to make far deeper cuts in intelligence, even as terrorist attacks against the United States increased.

Despite the known threat of terrorism, Bush nominated Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL) to be the new CIA Director - a man who has led the effort to cut the very intelligence priorities that are most critical to the fight against terrorism. As the Washington Post reports, Goss actually "sponsoredlegislation that would have cut intelligence personnel by 20 percent in the late 1990s." Goss insisted on these cuts even after the 1993 World Trade Center attack when America became aware of the serious terrorist threat. As the story notes, the cuts Goss supported are far larger than those proposed by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and were specifically targeted at "human intelligence." That is the very same priority which the 9/11 Commission and other independent experts say was lacking in the days and months leading up to the 9/11 attacks.<3>

The revelations about Goss come only a few weeks after similar evidence came to light showing that Vice President Cheney has also repeatedly tried to stop intelligence reforms and cut critical defense programs. For instance,in 1992, Cheney led the effort to block the very same intelligence reforms the 9/11 Commission said would have made the United States better prepared to deal with the threat of al Qaeda. Similarly, while the Bush-Cheney campaign has attacked Kerry for supposedly reducing defense spending,<4> it was Cheney himself in 2000 who admitted that as Defense Secretary, he "did
in fact significantly reduce the overall size of the U.S. military."<5> And in 1990, it was Cheney who went to Capitol Hill to tout his effort to slash defense, bragging about "programs that I have recommended for termination."<6>

Sources:

1. "Bush chides Kerry on intelligence cuts," Washington Times, 3/09/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=51644.
2. "Bush Strains Facts Re: Kerry's Plan To Cut Intelligence Funding in
'90's," FactCheck.org, 3/15/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=51645.
3. "Goss Backed '95 Bill to Slash Intelligence," Washington Post, 8/24/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=51646.
4. "Remarks by the Vice President at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
and Museum," WhiteHouse.gov, 3/17/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=51647.
5. "latimes.com: Cheney acknowledges defense cuts began on his watch,"
CNN.com, 8/24/00,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=51648.
6. Congressional Testimony, 2/01/90.

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