Missourian Warns Congress On Creation of Security Adviser

A Missourian who has spent years of his life in judicial and intelligence circles urges Congress not to botch the creation of a National Director of Security. He was the FBI director. He was the director of the CIA. He’s been a federal prosecutor, district, and appeals court judge. Missourian William H. Webster has told a congressional committee the National Security Director should have powers that are clear and comprehensive, that are precise, regularly used and not easily frustrated. But he says the nation and the director must not become so fixated on anti-terrorism that other intelligence needs are ignored.Webster says the leader of the intelligence community must be the leading advisor on intelligence to the president, but that director must work hard to avoid the prerception or the reality that intelligence is being framed to support an adminsitration’s foreign policy. Webster says the director should not be part of the cabinet.