WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (AFP) - President George W. Bush said Wednesday the new US national intelligence chief will have full authority over the spy community's purse strings, a key recommendation of the independent commission charged with investigating the September 11 attacks.
Although Bush had endorsed the idea of appointing a national intelligence director, his top aides had distanced themselves from proposals to place the director's office at the White House and grant that person full budgetary and hiring authority.
"We believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budgetary authority," Bush said. "We'll talk to members of Congress about how to implement that."
Bush met with Republican and Democratic members of Congress at the White House on Wednesday to discuss intelligence service reform. Congress is considering a bill on revamping the intelligence service which includes the creation of a top spy chief.
The Republican president had announced last month the appointment of a national intelligence chief who would oversee spy agencies.
The post had been recommended by the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, which called for the new intelligence "czar" to have a White House office and authority over the intelligence budget.
Last month, Bush nominated US Representative Porter Goss to be Central Intelligence Agency director, after George Tenet resigned in June. Congress must confirm the nomination.