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Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004

A majority in the 100-member Senate majority had approved the measure by late afternoon, as the vote was kept open for late arriving senators. The House passed the bill Tuesday after a strong push from President Bush.

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The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks three years ago on New York City and Washington, which killed nearly 3,000 people, proved that the intelligence operation established in World War II and modified afterward to fight communism wasn't effective enough against the threats of the new century, senators said in debate Wednesday.

"The world has changed," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. "Our terrorist enemies today make no distinction between soldiers and civilians, between foreign and domestic locations when they attack us."

The legislation establishes a new director of national intelligence to oversee the nation's 15 military and civilian spy agencies and make sure they work together to forestall future attacks. The bipartisan Sept. 11 commission said that didn't happen before terrorists flew airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The intelligence director will not be part of the president's Cabinet but is to have the same access as the defense secretary and the secretary of state. He will have authority to move intelligence assets around the globe to keep an eye on terrorist groups like al-Qaida - as well as nations like North Korea and Libya.

Bush has not yet decided whom to nominate to be the first intelligence director, spokesman Scott McClellan said. "We will move as quickly as we can, obviously, to implement the provisions and move forward on the steps it calls for in this legislation," he said.

Six years after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor - after World War II was won - Congress created the CIA, one of the spy agencies the national intelligence director will now direct in the fight against terrorism.

"Just as the National Security Act of 1947 was passed to prevent another Pearl Harbor, the Intelligence Reform Act will help us prevent another 9/11," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the lead Republican sponsor of the legislation.

The Sept. 11 commission, in its July report, said disharmony among intelligence agencies contributed to the inability of government officials to stop the Sept. 11 attacks. The government failed to recognize the danger posed by al-Qaida and was ill-prepared to respond to the terrorist threat, the report concluded.

Heavy and persistent lobbying by the bipartisan commission and by families of the attacks' victims kept the legislation alive through the summer political conventions, the election and a postelection lame duck session of Congress. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney also pushed hard in the final days.

"I did all of this for Sean's memory, I did it for him," said family lobbyist Beverly Eckert of Connecticut, who lost her husband Sean Rooney at the World Trade Center. "There is a euphoria in knowing that we reached the top of the hill. ... I just wanted Sean to come home from work. Maybe now, someone else's Sean will get to come home."

The legislation includes a host of other anti-terrorism provisions, such as allowing officials to wiretap "lone wolf" terrorists and improving airline baggage screening procedures. It increases the number of full-time border patrol agents by 2,000 per year for five years and imposes new federal standards on information that driver's licenses must contain.

Some lawmakers said Americans shouldn't be fooled into thinking they will be safe once the measure becomes law. "No legislation alone can forestall a terrorist attack on our nation," said Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.

Others complained that the bill didn't do enough to stop illegal immigration.

"We must address these vulnerabilities very soon because we know America's enemies diligently probe our vulnerabilities to carry out their deadly intentions," said House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who failed in his attempt to make the bill prohibit giving drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants.

The bill is S. 2845.

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