Bad Time for Intelligence Revamp This is not the time for a major overhaul of our intelligence services, as George Bush suggested in a press conference yesterday. This would set in motion a series of changes that would extend well beyond his term in office. By an optimist projection, that of DCI George Tenet, this would take 5 years. Robert M. Bryant, a former F.B.I. deputy director, suggests that one of Bush's suggestions (the creation of an intelligence gathering agency like M15 in the UK) would alone take 10 years to launch because of the highly specialized skilled and coordination of resources required. Condoleeza Rice is even doubtful about this part of Bush's tentative plan, but she holds to the basic administration line that "the country was not properly structured to deal with the threat". The basic structure of US intelligence services is not the problem, given the sum total of testimony before the 911 commission. Like the Iraq intelligence brief, it was in part a matter of how intelligence was used, and how it was coordinated by the administration. As former deputy director Bryant states, ''You don't want to change teams in the middle of the Super Bowl. You're better off to work with what you've got, to fund it and make it better.'' Nonetheless, Numerous improvements were suggested for improvement of the existing bureaucracy during the run-up to the 911 crises. It appears that they were either ignored or under-funded.

Beginning a major overhaul now would be nothing more than window dressing to give the appearance that the president finally has got a clue that something needs to be done. It might even be interpreted as an admission that the administration was indeed "on vacation" for too long. With recent revelations continuing to impinge upon Bush's credibility, it certainly would be unwise to accept his authorship of a long-term plan that would outlive his administration.