GOP congressional hopeful says post-9/11 intelligence efforts have fallen way short

By Dan Popkey

Republican congressional candidate Vaughn Ward on Wednesday criticized the Bush administration and a Congress then controlled by Republicans for failing to consolidate intelligence services earlier this decade.

Ward, a former CIA employee and Marine officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is seeking the nomination to challenge Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick in 2010.

Ward said turf battles between the CIA, Pentagon, National Security Agency and other agencies compromise the effectiveness of U.S. intelligence.

"There's no sharing of information," Ward told the Rotary Club of Southwest Boise. "Why? They don't get along. There's these fiefdoms, their ideas of separate entities. They need to work more together."

"What should we do? Force them to work together, have one person in charge of intelligence, not four or five," Ward added.

Ward said battles between former Bush officials — including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and CIA Director George Tenet — frustrated efforts at reform that should have been made after 9/11. Instead, President Bush and Congress created the Department of Homeland Security.

"It was terrible, it's been a terrible experience with DHS," Ward said. "It is getting better, but only because there's legislation now trying to figure it out. And yes, it will get better, and I hope that it will be a more effective resource."