The Foreign Service Journal, November 2004

Here one can find links to organiza- tions like the IAEA, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and the Federation of Atomic Scientists, and other concerned players and analysts, along with the latest developments on Iran and WMD. A July report by an independent task force of the Council on Foreign Relations offers a valuable overview and approach to the problem of deal- ing with Iran ( http://www.cfr.org/ pdf/Iran_TF.pdf ). S imilarly, a Janu- ary study by analysts at the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Insti- tute gives food for thought ( http:// www.carlisle.army.mil/ssi/pdf files/00359.pdf ). For details of the arms control process, the Center for Non- Proliferation Studies of the Monterrey Institute ( http://cns.miis.edu/ ) an d the Arms Control Association ( http:// www.armscontrol.org ) ar e vital re- sources. — David Coddon, Editorial Intern Intelligence Reform: A Road Map For the first time since the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, intelli- gence reform has entered the fore- front of U.S. foreign policy debates. This increased attention is the result of two distinct, yet interrelated, phenom- ena: the failure to prevent the terror- ist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The now-ubiquitous 9/11 Comm- ission Report, which can be read in full at http://www.fas.org/irp/hotdocs. htm , offers detailed recommendations for structural reform of the intelli- gence community. Foremost among these are the replacement of the direc- tor of central intelligence with a national intelligence director and the creation of a National Counter- terrorism Center. These suggestions are driven by what the authors consid- er a fundamental need to integrate what is now a loose collection of intel- ligence-gathering bureaucracies. For its part, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has under- taken an extensive review of U.S. intel- ligence regarding the status of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (also available at http://www.fas.org/irp/ hotdocs.htm ). Whereas the 9/11 Commission focuses on structural changes, the Senate Intelligence Committee report calls attention to the mentality underlying prewar intelligence estimates. It places par- ticular emphasis on the phenome- non of “group-think,” a “collective presumption that Iraq had an active and growing weapons of mass destruction program.” Reaction to the reports has been mixed, but mostly positive. In a Sept. 8 press release titled “Reforming and Strengthening Intelligence Services,” (available at http://www.fas.org/ irp/news/2004/09/wh090804.html ), the White House reiterated President Bush’s support for the creation of the national intelligence director position and a National Counterterrorism Center, but suggested that the NID should be assisted by a Joint Intelligence Community Council. Studies on the strengths and weak- nesses of the commission’s report have been released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies ( http://www.csis.org/features/911 commission.pdf ) an d the Foreign Policy Research Institute ( http:// www.fpri.org/enotes/20040813. americawar.galehusick.911com mission.html ). In addition, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., recently gave an address on intelligence reform at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. ( www.cfr.org ). Implementation of the commis- sion’s recommendations has already involved considerable political wran- gling, and there is certainly more to come. In the Senate, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., introduced legislation that would, in addition to creating a NID and the NCTC, limit the Pentagon’s control over the $40-billion intelli- N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 C YBERNOTES 50 Years Ago... Our fascinating little Earth seems to be a “rapidly shrinking world” only because of the ever-geographically widening outreach of communication, transport, and travel available to individual human beings and society — which is the truly significant factor. — S. Whittemore Boggs, “Global Relations of the United States,” FSJ , November 1954.