Yet another complicating factor is Mr Bush's recent nomination of Porter Goss, a congressman and former spy himself, to head the CIA. The Senate must confirm Mr Goss in his position, but with intelligence reform up in the air, senators will not know the contours of the job for which they will be vetting him.
And just one week ago, the deputy head of Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, Jack Hooper, told a Senate committee here that only a fraction of immigrants from high-risk areas were being properly screened.