Both good points, but here's why I'm doing them this way:

Not all of the Assets have actual abilities. Prowess and Tactics are really the main ones that do. Soldiers is going to give you units based on a template that you can customize some (sort of like Eidolons for a Summoner Pathfinder), Funds is going to be a set of things you can actually spend/invest the quasi-wealth it provides on, Scouting and Spying is more going to be rules about what you can learn when you spend/invest the points, Logistics is going to be rules for different strategic tasks and missions - what they cost, how they get resolved, and so on. Basically, most of the Assets will work very differently than the "invest to purchase, spend to activate" ability lists that Prowess and Tactics provide.

Tying them to ability scores does make them MAD, which is entirely intentional. And believe me when I say it's not a choice made lightly - I hate MAD as a general rule. But one of the things I'm trying to do with this class is make the sort of Tier 1 class that can theoretically be played in a less powerful party. Wizards, as probably the most obvious example, have several serious hurdles to overcome despite its awesome potential power. The warlord, though, has a full BAB, a decent HD, two good saves, per-encounter abilities, and if I do my job correctly, a dearth of actual trap options.

So forcing them to be MAD to really use their abilities to the fullest gives them a hurdle to deal with; D&D rewards specialization, and the warlord class has strong incentive to generalize. Likewise, having twelve Assets total means they have more things to divide their attention among, and a lot of those, while useful and powerful on the strategic scale, will be of more limited value in a normal adventure. Scouting and Spying, yeah, they're definitely similar enough that they could be folded together. But that removes one choice that the warlord player has to make, one area that it has to invest in at the cost of something else. Having twelve Assets should, I think, actually lead to less power in play, despite offering more options.