WASHINGTON – Although the independent commission examining the Sept. 11 attacks recommended bold, sweeping government reforms to combat terrorism, the odds that many of those changes will take hold are mixed.

Throughout its 567-page report, the commission described a federal government and a nation still vulnerable to terrorist attack. It suggested that the best way to fix security lapses is to reorganize America’s intelligence community under a new, national intelligence director, establish a new counterterrorism center and force Congress to play a larger role in overseeing its activities.

Several commissioners, acknowledging the political challenge of enacting their reforms, urged Congress and the White House to act quickly. “If these reforms are not the best that can be done for the American people, then the Congress and the president need to tell us what’s better,” said commission member James Thompson, a former Illinois governor. “But if there is nothing better, they need to be enacted, and enacted speedily.”

President Bush said his staff would review the report and “where government needs to act, we will.”

Some members of Congress also said the recommendations should be quickly considered and adopted.

“We may be in a lame-duck session this November or December after the election,” said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “I would urge that our leaders begin scheduling hearings with possible action as early as possible next year. The sooner we act on this commission’s recommendations, the better off we’re going to be.”

“I’m not sure that we can do all the hearings and all the testing of what these recommendations are and then actually move forward with the legislation,” said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. “But we’re going to move forward.”

and get done what we can.”

Formidable obstacles to the proposals remain, from principled opposition to turf battles to fear of change.

Many of the recommendations have been made before and have gone nowhere, though some suggest the extraordinary circumstances of this report could make the difference this time. After all, the proposals are now the unanimous recommendations of a bipartisan panel investigating the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

The commissioners have made it clear they will keep up pressure on the president, Congress and federal agencies to enact the proposals. And the approaching fall election could provide the impetus that would make it harder for Bush and congressional leaders to drag their feet.

Still, commissioners acknowledged Thursday that they had served up a tall order. Their report noted progress made among intelligence, military and law enforcement agencies since Sept. 11.

“Because of offensive actions against Al Qaeda since 9/11,” the report states, “We believe we are safer today. But we are not safe.”

To address safety concerns, the commission recommended Congress establish a Cabinet-level national intelligence director with budget – but not policy-making – authority, a new structure to facilitate the improved sharing of intelligence and less classification of documents and other information.

Notably, the commission warned against forming a separate domestic intelligence-gathering agency modeled on Britain’s MI5, an idea FBI Director Robert Mueller had lobbied hard against.

Indeed, the FBI, CIA and Pentagon each have a stake in the anti-terrorism fight, and each has decades of experience protecting its turf.

The commission suggested giving a new national intelligence director authority over “intelligence centers” that would combine information and share it with appropriate agencies. The director would serve in the White House and be confirmed by the Senate, and would have deputies overseeing the CIA, Defense and FBI and Homeland Security Department intelligence duties.

The new job, the commission suggested, also would “receive a public appropriation for national intelligence,” and have the authority to hire or fire deputies – in essence, authority over a CIA director, defense intelligence director and an FBI/Homeland Security Department intelligence boss.

“We need unity of effort in the intelligence community,” said Thomas Kean, the commission’s chairman. “We need a much stronger head of the intelligence community and an intelligence community that organizes itself to do joint work.”

The notion of a so-called intelligence czar found little favor among intelligence veterans.

Milt Bearden, a retired CIA officer who once directed the agency’s Near East operations, said appointing a Cabinet officer to oversee intelligence agencies doesn’t streamline the bureaucracy, but adds to it.

“If they (Congress) do a czar and wash their hands and walk away, then it’s just another joke,” said Bearden. “It’s just another 300 or 400 people, another building, another layer.”

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The report also calls for a national counterterrorism center that would become “the authoritative knowledge bank, bringing information to bear on common plans.” But intelligence officials say something like that already exists – the Terrorist Threat Intelligence Center, created after the Sept. 11 attacks. It is run by the CIA but includes staff from other agencies.

“That would mean that you’re sucking the No. 1 priority out of the CIA,” said a former senior CIA official. “You end up with staff leaving, with a lack of focus. And what are they going to do about dealing with foreign government liaison? It’s a bad idea.”

The commission may face its most difficult fight in trying to convince members of Congress to refocus the oversight role of House and Senate intelligence committees. The report suggests forming a single intelligence committee, or beefing up the work of the two existing ones.

Some members of the Senate and House intelligence panels agreed that more staff, money and time should be spent on watching over intelligence.

“I agree, certainly, when they say Congress can do a better job,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. “I’m on the intelligence committee and I share a part-time staffer on the committee with another member, and we’re supposed to watch over 15 agencies. … We can’t do it.”

Still, Durbin was among a number of members who opposed the report’s proposal that the Senate and House establish a single intelligence committee.

Commission members know they have put a monumental task before Congress and the president, and vice chairman Lee Hamilton, for one, said the panel’s work is not done.

“We’ll be knocking on their doors very frequently in the days ahead, as we work to achieve the goals that they have set out,” Hamilton said.

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(c) 2004, Chicago Tribune.

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AP-NY-07-22-04 2253EDT