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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion October 25, 2004
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Bush Misleads on Intelligence Funding



In a new campaign advertisement, President Bush accuses Sen. John Kerry, "after the first terrorist attack on America," of voting to "slash America's intelligence operations" with cuts "so deep they would have weakened America's defenses."1 The accusations made in the ad are false and misleading.

First, the vote in question did not occur, as the ad suggests, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The vote took place in 1994, a year after a truck bomb went off in a parking garage beneath one of the World Trade Center towers.2 For several years prior to 9/11, John Kerry supported increases in intelligence funding.3

Also, Kerry never supported "slashing" the intelligence budget. In 1994, as part of an effort to balance the budget, he supported a provision that would have cut the intelligence budget by $5 billion over five years.4 This amounts to about a 3.7 percent reduction.

Moreover, the implication that Kerry's vote disqualifies him from being in charge of intelligence operations is disingenuous. Porter Goss - who Bush appointed to lead the Central Intelligence Agency - supported far more significant reductions in intelligence resources. In 1995, Goss sponsored a bill that would have cut the staff at the CIA by 20 percent over five years.5

Sources:
  1. "Bush-Cheney '04 Launches New Television Advertisement, 'Wolves'," GeorgeWBush.com, 10/22/04.
  2. "Would Kerry Throw Us To The Wolves?," FactCheck.org, 10/23/04.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Ibid.
  5. "Goss Backed '95 Bill to Slash Intelligence," Washington Post, 08/24/04.



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