New Domestic Intelligence Chief

by-Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
Published: December 13, 2005

Washington--The law requiring the USA Patriot Act will create a new official in the Juctice Department responsible for Domestic Intelligence-Gathering.

Section 506 of the law, which is currently before Congress, establishes a National Security Division within the Department of Justice, to be headed by an Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

The section implements a recommendation by the President's Commission on Intelligence that the Justice Department's "Primary National Security Elements of the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, and the Counterterrorism and Counterespionage Sections" be rolled into a single office, under the command of a new Assistant Attorney General.

The new Assistant Attorney General will be nominated by the President after consultation with the Director of National Intelligence. The post-holder will be subject to confirmation by the Judiciary Committe and will report to the Attorney General.

An earlier version of the post, created by the still-pending Intelligence Authorization Bill for 2006, gave the Director of National Intelligence an effective vote over the nomination;
gave the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence the right to confirm the post-holder; and made him answerable both to the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence.