Department of Homeland Security trumps FBI? (Security Beat).

A report released by the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age recommended that the Department of Homeland Security take the lead in shaping domestic intelligence priorities. The study, co-sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, notes that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is falling short on its domestic anti-terrorism efforts.

"We're moving from a long era in national security where the threats and challenges were fixed -- we faced the same opponent for 40 years -- to a period of great fluidity and change," said John Hamre, CSIS president and member of the Markle task force. Hamre served as deputy secretary of defense in the Clinton administration.

"Information technology has changed how we fight wars and how we do business. Creating a domestic intelligence function for the United States will be a major challenge on many levels and the report works through problems of organization, intelligence and safeguards for civil liberties that will confront any new Department for Homeland Security," said James Lewis, director of the CSIS Council on Technology and Public Policy.

"The report makes an important contribution by highlighting the need for a more robust domestic intelligence capability," said Mary DeRosa, a senior fellow for the CSIS Technology and Public Policy Program. "We ate uncomfortable with domestic intelligence in this country, because of legitimate concerns about the potential for government abuse. But our enemies no longer operate primarily overseas, and we have to adjust to this new threat. We can increase our focus on domestic intelligence without sacrificing essential liberties," she said.

FBI Director Robert Mueller, in a recent memorandum to agents, announced plans to shift the agency's focus from solving domestic crimes to preventing terrorist attacks.