Washington, D.C.

White House urged to quickly nominate new CIA director

A Senate report detailing serious flaws in U.S. intelligence-gathering highlights the urgent need for a permanent CIA director given the current terrorist threat, leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday.

George Tenet, who announced in early June that he was resigning for personal reasons, left the agency Sunday after seven years as director. His deputy, John McLaughlin, took over as acting director.

Tenet’s departure came two days after the committee concluded the CIA provided unfounded assessments of the threat posed by Iraq that the Bush administration relied on to justify going to war.

“An acting director for the next six or seven months, during such a dangerous period for the United States, with all of these talks about attacks on the United States, is not acceptable,” said West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the committee’s top Democrat.

Washington, D.C.

9-11 panel nears completion of final report

Working in secret, the 9-11 commission is finishing a final report that several members believe will be done by week’s end.

The endorsement of all 10 commissioners is important if the findings and recommendations for improvements, most notably in intelligence-gathering, are to avoid charges of partisanship in an election year.

“They are all taking their broader responsibility seriously,” said Norm Ornstein, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. “They know this is not about scoring political points in the heart of a campaign but about making sure the attacks don’t happen again.”

Washington, D.C.

Polls remain same after Kerry selects Edwards

John Kerry’s choice of John Edwards as his running mate was received favorably by the public, polls suggest, but it has made little difference so far in the presidential race.

Kerry strategists are trying to lower expectations for a “bounce” in the polls that presidential candidates sometimes get after choosing a running mate or attending a convention.

But those looking for a Kerry surge in the polls after the Edwards pick saw a shift of a few points, often within a poll’s margin of error.

An AP-Ipsos poll released Thursday offered an early hint there would not be a post-Edwards bounce for Kerry.

President Bush had a slight lead over Kerry as voters expressed increasing confidence about the economy. Bush was at 49 percent, Kerry at 45 percent and independent Ralph Nader at 3 percent, according to the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs.