White House rejects clauses on immigration

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The White House is increasing pressure on Congress to strike from the final intelligence-reform legislation certain immigration-related provisions that House Republicans had tagged onto their version of the bill.

With a conference on the House and Senate versions of the legislation opening today, the Bush administration has written to Congress, expressing opposition to provisions that would broaden the government's ability to deport aliens and limit the rights of asylum-seekers.

The letter, dated Monday and signed by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Office of Management and Budget Director Joshua B. Bolten, expands on an Oct. 7 statement of administration policy by the president that first raised concerns about the provisions.

"These sections should be modified or dropped altogether," the administration says in Monday's letter, which was released by the Bush administration yesterday.

The letter expresses broad support for the bulk of the content in the House and Senate versions of the intelligence-reform bill, both of which call for the establishment of a national intelligence director (NID) and National Counterterrorism Center.

However, the administration said it is "gravely concerned about the excessive and unnecessary detail in the structure of the Office of the NID" included in both versions. The final bill, they said, "should not create additional layers of investigative offices and staffs."

The administration added that it opposes the establishment of an ombudsman to work within the NID offices, as well as "provisions that allow a subordinate officer to oversee or otherwise supervise the work of his superior."

The administration expressed satisfaction with one NID provision in the House version, which calls for keeping the intelligence community's overall budget secret -- or effectively blocking "disclosure of sensitive information relating to [it]."

The letter was addressed to Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Republican, who is chairman of the Senate-House conference to reconcile differences between the two versions of the reform.

Mrs. Collins, who co-wrote the Senate version with Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Democrat, said the letter was "further evidence that the president is eager to sign a bill that will implement a major reorganization of our intelligence system and make our nation safer."