Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Two U.S. congressional committees that returned to Washington for unscheduled hearings on combating terrorism heard contrasting views on how they should respond to a report by a commission that probed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

A Senate committee examining the 12-day-old report was advised to move cautiously on the panel's recommendations. Two commission members urged a House committee to support a proposal for a new national intelligence director with broader powers than those endorsed yesterday by President George W. Bush.

``The person that has the responsibility needs the authority,'' Bob Kerrey, a Sept. 11 commission member and former Democratic senator from Nebraska, told the House Government Reform Committee. ``And absent that, they're not going to be able to get the job done.''

He said the commission, while ``respectful'' of Bush's views, will be united in pressing for an undiluted version of its proposals.

Officials from the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security called for restraint in weighing the commission's proposals.

``For all of its scholarship, it really just skims the surface of these complicated issues,'' John Brennan, director of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

``It's complicated,'' said Patrick Hughes, assistant secretary for information analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. ``It takes some time and some care to get it right.''

Bush's Endorsement

Bush yesterday endorsed creation of an office to coordinate counter-terrorism activities and the post of national intelligence director to oversee the U.S.'s 15 different intelligence gathering agencies.

He stopped short of backing the commission's recommendation that the new director oversee all intelligence agency budgets with power to hire and fire. Bush also declined to endorse placing the job within the executive office of the president.

Kerrey said Bush's approach would leave too much autonomy elsewhere, including the Defense Department's intelligence agency.

John F. Lehman, one of five Republicans on the 10-member Sept. 11 commission, said he expects Bush eventually will embrace a more powerful role for the national intelligence director.

``Those powers must be given, and I don't think the president will oppose them,'' Lehman said.

The national intelligence director would be a step above the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, and creating the post requires Congress to revise the 1947 National Security Act that created the CIA.

Terror Plots

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry criticized Bush for not endorsing all 41 of the commission's recommendations and showing more urgency in supporting their prompt enactment.

Federal authorities Sunday warned of terrorist plots to bomb financial buildings in New York City, northern New Jersey and Washington.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laurence Arnold in Washington larnold4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 3, 2004 14:54 EDT