Bush Loses Turf War with Rummy

Bush, who otherwise seems to love concentrating power in his branch, has been wary about the National Intelligence Chief called for in the 9/11 report. Yesterday, while he said he backed the idea, he said he would not give the chief cabinet-level power; and he and Andrew Card did not speak about overall budgetary control and hiring-and-firing power either -- but discussed the chief's "coordinating role" in the budgetary and hiring processes of the Federal Governments 15-agency intelligence efforts, with an estimated budget of $40B.

What gives? I'm not looking forward to the day that we have a KGB-style powerful spy-captain, but I'd think Bush would. Perhaps the answer lies in this NYTimes article, which states that 80% of that $40B in intelligence lies under the Department of Defense -- Rummyland.

That's a huge chunk, meaninig that Rummy, for all practical purposes, controls most of the nation's intelligence apparatus. He's already come out against the super-spy (see article), saying it would do the country "a great disservice". And former Sec'y William Perry said it's unlikely the DoD would agree to give up control of that budget.

In other words, this ginger stepping by Bush is happening so that he doesn't have to tell Rummy what to do.

The Kerry Quote: (Or, what John Kerry should say about this): "When I'm President, we will not have a Secretary of Defense who can over-rule the Congress and the President on what's best for the Nation in intelligence matters. There should be no place for turf wars like this -- but if they happen, the President shouldn't lose them to the Secretary of Defense."