MUSCAT, Aug 10 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Tuesday against a rush to centralize US intelligence under a single "czar," arguing that competitive analysis of intelligence data was needed to avoid "group think."
Rumsfeld said he agreed with President George W. Bush's decision to name a cabinet-level director of national intelligence.
"But what's he going to do? Who is he going to report to? Who is going to report to him, What are his functions?
"The president's proposal was that there be one. I agree. I think that's a good idea. And then the question is, 'One what?'" he told reporters as he flew here from Washington for a trip to the region.
While Rumsfeld was in the air, the White House anounced that Representative Porter Goss of Florida has been tapped to head the CIA, succeeding George Tenet.
Rumsfeld's remarks on intelligence reform were his most extensive since a special commission released its report on the failure of US intelligence to prevent the September 1, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Chief among its recommendations is that a single cabinet level officer be put in charge of, and given budgetary authority over, the sprawling US intelligence community, which comprises 15 agencies.
Lack of coordination and intelligence-sharing among the agencies was singled out as a key failing that enabled Islamic extremists to mount the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Currently, the director of central intelligence is also the head of the CIA but the Pentagon, the biggest consumer of intelligence, controls most of the intelligence community's estimated 40 billion dollar a year annual budget.
Rumsfeld would not say whether he would support giving a new national director of intelligence authority over budgets the Pentagon now controls.
But he questioned the wisdom of replacing the existing network of loosely connected intelligence "stovepipes," with a highly centralized intelligence apparatus.
"Some people are saying you need a czar, you need a person to be in charge of all intelligence. Is that really a good idea?," he said.
"I think most people who understand intelligence want competitive intelligence analysis, they want multiple sources, and they do not want things centralized and homogenized into group think," he said.
"Does that mean you can't have a national intelligence director? No, you can have a national intelligence director as long as you understand what you really need is good intelligence. And the way you really get good intelligence is to have competitive analysis," he said.
"In the back of our mind we ought to have that important thought of HL Mencken's that for every human problem there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong," he said.
Rumsfeld said he has been meeting with former defense secretaries and intelligence chiefs to discuss what reforms are needed.