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Statement of Susan M. Collins

Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs

"Making America Safer: Examining the Recommendations of the 9-11 Commission"

July, 30 2004

Today, the Governmental Affairs Committee begins a series of hearings on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission calling for a restructuring of our intelligence organizations. The task we have been assigned by the Senate leaders is to examine these recommendations in depth and to report legislation by October 1st.

We must act with speed, but not in haste. We must be bold, but we cannot be reckless. We must protect not just the lives of our citizens, but also those values that make life worth living: liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  All terrorism involves death and destruction, but the ultimate goal of terrorists is to destroy everything that we treasure and that defines us as Americans: democracy, protection of the rights of all, adherence to the rule of law, economic opportunity, and religious and political freedom.

Those who despise our way of life will stop at nothing to achieve this goal.  Osama bin Laden has repeatedly said that Al Qaeda makes no distinction between military and civilian targets.  He called the murder of any American, anywhere on earth, the duty of every Muslim.

The 9/11 Commission makes numerous findings as to how we can better protect ourselves and our liberty.  A key finding is that we must reform the structure of our intelligence community.

The Commission makes two major recommendations to accomplish this end: the establishment of a National Counterterrorism Center to unify intelligence analysis and operational planning, and the creation of a new National Intelligence Director to lead our entire intelligence effort, which now involves 15 agencies scattered across the federal government.

The NCTC, as envisioned by the Commission, would not be merely another layer of bureaucracy, but a means by which our intelligence agencies can share and integrate their expertise, their perspectives, and their institutional memories. The proposed NID would have the authority to allocate resources and control budgets to ensure that the most important priorities are funded in keeping with the policies established by the president and his National Security Council. This reorganization would represent a fundamental overhaul of our organizational structure and a sea change in our thinking.

The precise form and extent of reorganization remains to be determined.  And we need to make clear, just as the 9/11 report does, that the intelligence failures we are discussing were not the result of individual negligence, but of institutional rigidity.

Massive reorganizations of government are controversial. They often are met by great resistance among those being reorganized. While turf battles abound in Washington, for the American people it is the results that count. Power struggles for authority and responsibility, however well-motivated, cannot be allowed to doom needed reforms. As the Commission report quotes one CIA official, "One fight, one team."

It can be done. Look, for example, at the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 which centralized operational authority through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Initially, this restructuring was vigorously opposed by those who clung to the independence of the various service branches. The performance of our military since then in the Gulf War, in Bosnia, and now in Afghanistan and Iraq, is testament to the wisdom of that unifying reform.

The threat we face today requires the same willingness to innovate, to coordinate information, to share skills and talent, and to pursue the overriding mission that helped America meet the challenges of the 20th Century. This Committee must do everything in its power to see that America's intelligence structures are rebuilt to meet the challenges of the 21st.

Today, we are honored to hear from the two leaders of the 9/11 Commission, Chairman Thomas Kean and Vice-Chairman Lee Hamilton. I thank them for their extraordinary service and welcome them here today.

Before calling on the Commissioners, I would like to recognize my friend Senator Lieberman for any opening comments that he may have. In addition to tremendous experience and insight, Senator Lieberman brings a decidedly non-partisan approach to this task. I appreciate his assistance in putting these hearings together so quickly and look forward to working with him as we strive to meet our October 1st goal.