Julie with a B

Friday, February 18, 2005
 
Another just hmmmmmm...
From Slate re: Negroponte

As hammered out by the White House and Congress last year, the new position has at best ambiguous authority. One former CIA lawyer told the Los Angeles Times, "The bill has given the [new czar] a lot of authorities, but it has not taken authority away from existing Cabinet officers." The Washington Post notes that Negroponte will be in direct control of only a few hundred employees. And as Slate's Fred Kaplan explains, he won't have pink-slip powers over agencies nor control of their budgets. The biggest barrier to centralized control—besides the law itself—is the Pentagon, which controls about 80 percent of the intel budget.
Given the lack of concrete power for the new position, the papers look to Bush's comments for hints about whether Negroponte will get the next best thing: the president's ear. "When the intelligence briefings start in the morning, John will be there," promised Bush. One "administration official" told the LAT that won't be good enough, "Where's his political backing? In Congress? No. From the Republican Party? No. He's not in the Cabinet. Are Cabinet officers really going to report to him on anything?"

So he can bring the Pres his coffee in the morning? Nice. Probably a good salary for that tho....

- posted by JulieB @ 11:00 AM
|

<< Home

Powered by Blogger