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COPYRIGHT 2004 South Florida Sun-Sentinal
Byline: William E. Gibson
WASHINGTON _ Wrapping up a distinguished yet often frustrating 18 years on Capitol Hill, Florida Sen. Bob Graham says he foresees an ideological Bush administration forcing its will on a polarized Congress while international terrorist groups continue to gather strength abroad.
A centrist Democrat who sought consensus in a sharply divided Congress, Graham leaves office without much optimism for the near future. A stalled intelligence reform bill in the waning days of this session is just the latest of his exasperations.
"In terms of the total intelligence community, unless Congress can resolve this stalemate, I don't feel very optimistic," the retiring senator said in an interview last week in his office, which he will soon vacate.
Graham, former chairman of the Senate's intelligence committee, gained national stature over the past few years as a security watchdog constantly warning about the spread of terrorist groups and the nation's vulnerabilities. Now a kind of elder statesman on intelligence matters, he plans to teach and lead research at Harvard University and to establish two centers in Florida to train intelligence officers.
"I'm concerned that our adversary has strengthened in the last three and a...
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