To the Point

Intelligence Reform and Presidential Priorities

President Bush is in Canada, so the 9/11 Commission chairs are meeting today with Vice President Cheney, hoping to get intelligence reform back on track. Bush and House Speaker Hastert both supported a compromise on intelligence reform, which reportedly had enough votes to pass comfortably in both houses of Congress. But after some Republicans disagreed, Hastert pulled the bill, creating a crisis of leadership for the President within his own party that could affect his plans to charge the tax code and Social Security. We hear what-s at stake for intelligence reform and the rest of the President-s second-term agenda from Republican Congressmen on both sides of the issue, victims of 9/11, and former White House advisors and intelligence analysts. Making News: Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge Resigns Tom Ridge is the latest member of President Bush-s cabinet to tender his resignation. The former governor of Pennsylvania served as the first US Secretary of Homeland Security. Bobby Block, who reports on homeland security for the Wall Street Journal, considers the reasons behind Ridge's departure and who might replace him. Reporter's Notebook: US Politicos, Pollsters, Diplomats Fuel Kiev Turmoil With thousands still demonstrating in the streets of Kiev and Ukraine's Supreme Court still hearing complaints about last week-s disputed voting, outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has proposed new elections to decide his successor. If the campaign looks similar to what happened recently in Serbia, Georgia and Belarus, that-s no accident. The Guardian's Ian Traynor reports on a home-grown uprising that a boost from American-style political marketing.