BUSH'S TOOTHLESS WAR AGAINST TERRORISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000401580009-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: October 31, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/25: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401580009-2
Newsweek
Time
STAT
U.S. News & World Report
Date
Bush's toothless war against terrorism
The Vice President called
for many improvements in
counterterror operations. Why
were so few adopted?
"I wrote the antiterrorism report for this
government. It is the best antiterrorism
report written." -George Bush
September 25 presidential debate.
Vice President Bush may be proud
of the document he authored in
February, 1986, but the administra-
tion has ignored it almost as much as it
has heeded its recommendations since it
was handed to President Reagan. The
most flagrant dismissal of Bush's recom-
mendations, which were crafted in the
aftermath of the June, 1985, hijacking of
TWA Flight 847 in Lebanon, came when
the administration traded weapons for
hostages in the Iran-Contra affair. But
interviews with key counterterrorism of-
ficials in the Pentagon, CIA, State De-
partment and FBI have revealed that at
least 22 of the 42 recommendations of the
Bush report have never been fully imple-
mented. Intelligence sources complain
that the administration has failed to car-
ry out major policy changes that could
have helped in the fight against interna-
tional terrorists. The fact that so much of
his work was never treated seriously by
his own administration raises new ques-
tions about Bush's leadership capacities.
U.S. News has reviewed a classified
copy of the panel's full list of recommen-
dations, and here are some of the key
proposals that were never enacted:
^ Get more spies and Informants. The
Bush report called for expanding human
intelligence gathering against terrorist
A question of follow-through: Presenting the report to the President
groups, specifically citing the need to
make greater use of an elite counterter-
rorist unit within the Pentagon. It was
not done. Instead, the role of the Penta-
gon commando group touted in the
Bush panel has been severely curtailed in
the past two years, and no other unit or
program has filled the void.
^ Send commandos overseas. Bush also
urged that counterterrorist forces be
placed abroad near likely sites of terrorist
attacks. No such posts have been created.
^ Create a centralized analysis center.
Bush asked for an "intelligence-fusion
center," to collect, analyze and distrib-
ute intelligence data throughout the gov-
ernment. The comprehensive facility en-
visioned in the report has not yet been
established. Intelligence sources say
that, while the CIA has established a
counterterrorism center, officials from
the other agencies have been stymied in
trying to get information and, in some
cases, they have been unable to get the
CIA to accept their intelligence.
The Vice President, in a letter to Ron-
ald Reagan last year, gave this account of
the task force: "Progress has been excel-
lent ... [but] in a few cases-usually
requiring the cooperation of foreign gov-
ernments-our final objectives have not
yet been attained." On other fronts,
Bush's defenders say he should be given
credit for policy changes that were made,
such as tougher antiterrorism laws. In the
intelligence community, however, reac-
tion to the administration's lack of atten-
tion to its own report is scathing. "They
made their big splash and then left the
water," says one senior counterintelli-
gence expert. "There was no follow-up.
The report was a farce." ^
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/25: CIA-RDP99-01448R000401580009-2