For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 27, 2004
Fact Sheet: President Issues New Orders to Reform Intelligence
Actions Aimed at Terrorism Prevention, Safeguarding Civil Liberties, and Further Implementing 9/11 Commission Recommendations
Executive Orders Establish Interim Powers for Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) to Perform Certain Duties of a National
Intelligence Director (NID) and a National Counterterrorism Center
"My most solemn duty is to protect our country... In the three
years since our country was attacked, we've taken steps to overcome new
threats. We will continue to do everything in our power to defeat the
terrorist enemy and to protect the American people."
-- President George W. Bush, August 2, 2004
Presidential Action
On August 2, 2004, the President directed his Administration to
take swift action, consistent with existing laws, on reform initiatives
that would strengthen the intelligence community and improve America's
ability to find, track, and stop dangerous terrorists. These
initiatives are consistent with the valuable recommendations made by
the 9/11 Commission, and they build on previous actions the
Administration has already taken to better protect America. As the
President said on August 2, "All these reforms have a single goal: We
will ensure that the people in government responsible for defending
America and countering terrorism have the best possible information to
make the best decisions."
The President issued a series of new, far-reaching orders
which strain the limits of his authority but are essential to America's
security.
Executive Order Directing the Strengthened Management of the
Intelligence Community. Until an NID is created, the DCI
will:
- Act as the principal advisor to the President for
intelligence;
- Develop objectives and guidance for the
Intelligence Community to ensure timely and effective collection,
processing, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence, of whatever
nature and from whatever source derived, concerning current and
potential threats to the security of America;
- Develop, determine and present with the advice of the heads of Departments or Agencies
that have an organization within the Intelligence Community, the annual
consolidated National Foreign Intelligence Program (NFIP) budget;
- Report to the President on the effectiveness of implementation of the
NFIP by organizations in the Intelligence Community, for which purpose
the heads of departments and agencies shall ensure that the Director
has access to programmatic, execution, and other appropriate
information;
- Recommend and concur in the selection of heads of
intelligence organizations;
- Supervise the newly created National
Counterterrorism Center (NCTC);
- Set standards and qualifications for training, education, career development of personnel, and the
establishment of common security policies within organizations in the
Intelligence Community;
- Determine intelligence collection priorities, manage collection tasking, and resolve conflicts in the tasking of national collection assets; and
- Ensure integrated intelligence collection against enduring and emerging national security threats.
Executive Order Establishing the National Counterterrorism Center
(NCTC). The NCTC will:
- Serve as the U.S. Government's central
knowledge bank on known and suspected terrorists and international
terror groups, as well as their goals, strategies, capabilities, and
networks of contacts and support;
- Concentrate analytical expertise on terrorism in one location while maintaining competitive analysis;
- Report to the President through the DCI (until an NID
is created) and prepare the President's Terrorist Threat Report (PTTR);
- Conduct strategic operational planning for counterterrorism
activities integrating all elements of national power;
- Ensure that individual departments and agencies receive the all-source
intelligence support needed to execute their plans to counter terror
threats against the U.S. and U.S. interests;
- Identify counterterrorism intelligence requirements or perform independent, alternative analysis for the intelligence community; and
- Assign operational responsibilities to lead agencies for counterterrorism activities.
Executive Order on Strengthening the Sharing of Terrorism
Information to Protect Americans.
In this Order, the President:
- Directed all Executive Branch
agencies to make available and promptly share information relating to
terrorism with other agencies with counterterrorism functions, while
ensuring the information privacy rights of Americans under the law;
- Ordered the Director of Central Intelligence to establish common
standards across the intelligence community that remove constraints,
provide incentives, and impose accountability for sharing information
relating to terrorism; and
- Established an Informations Systems
Council that will plan for and oversee implementation of an
interoperable terrorism information sharing environment that
facilitates automated sharing of information relating to terrorism
among agencies with counterterrorism functions.
Executive Order Establishing the President's Board on Safeguarding Americans' Civil Liberties.
The Board will:
- Advance the President's charge to continue to enhance his commitment to safeguard
the legal rights of all Americans, including freedoms, civil liberties
and information privacy guaranteed by Federal law, even while the
government takes all possible actions to prevent terrorist attacks on
America's families and communities;
- Advise the President on new and ongoing efforts to safeguard these legal rights, enhance cooperation and coordination in advancing the President's government-wide efforts, request reports and otherwise monitor progress, refer credible information about possible violations, and is empowered to seek outside information, perspective and advice; and
- Utilize its speed, flexibility and authority to ensure the
President's commitment is carried out; it is chaired by the Deputy
Attorney General, with the Under Secretary for Border and
Transportation Security of the Department of Homeland Security serving
as Vice Chair, and includes senior officials drawn from across the
Federal Government with central roles in both the War on Terror and in
civil liberties and privacy issues; it is required to hold its first
meeting within 20 days.
The President also has signed the following Homeland Security
Presidential Directives (HSPDs):
HSPD on Terrorist-Related Screening Procedures. The Directive
will:
- Require comprehensive, coordinated government-wide,
terrorist-related screening procedures to detect, identify, and
interdict people and cargo that pose a threat to homeland security more
effectively;
- Further improve screening practices across the
Nation with respect to border, transportation, critical infrastructure,
and other screening efforts to protect our homeland; and
- Enhance terrorist-related screening in a manner that safeguards legal rights, including freedoms, civil liberties, and information privacy guaranteed by Federal law, while facilitating the efficient movement of people and cargo.
HSPD on Policy For a Common Identification Standard for Federal
Employees and Contractors. The Directive will:
- Mandate the expedited, public and open development of a uniform standard for Federal employee and contractor identification that ensures security, reliability and interoperability;
- Help close security gaps and improve our ability to stop terrorists and others from access to or attacks against critical Federal sites and cyber and other information systems; and
- Improve efficiency among Federal agencies through
more consistent systems and practices.
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