Intelligence Issues for Congress
Most Recent Developments
On July 22, the Senate Intelligence Committee reported (S.Rept.
111-55) its version of the
FY2010 Intelligence Authorization bill (S. 1494). The bill would
require Senate confirmation of
future nominees to head the National Security Agency (NSA), the
National Reconnaissance
Office (NRO), the National Geospatial-Imagery Agency (NGA), and to
serve as Deputy Director
of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It would also strengthen
the role of the Director of
National Intelligence in managing acquisitions of intelligence
systems. The two intelligence
committees are to be kept informed of all covert actions and other
intelligence activities; if the
executive branch intends not to inform all members of the
committees, the committees are to be
advised of the “main features” of the activity in a form that could
be accessible to all committee
members. In a provision that has been under consideration for some
years, the bill would
establish a statutory Inspector General for the entire Intelligence
Community. It would also
require that the Administration disclose the amount requested in the
annual budget for the
National Intelligence Program and expresses the sense of the Senate
that there should be a subcommittee
on intelligence of the Committee on Appropriations.
On June 26, the House Intelligence Committee reported (H.Rept.
111-186), its version of the
FY2010 Intelligence Authorization Act, H.R. 2701. If enacted, the
legislation would curtail
implementation of the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel
System, require that the President
brief intelligence committees on both planned intelligence
activities and covert actions and
maintain records of which Members had been informed. The bill would
also require that the
Senate confirm nominees to head the NRO and NSA (but not the NGA);
the bill establishes the
position of deputy director of the CIA but does not require Senate
confirmation for filling this
position. The bill would also establish a statutory Inspector
General for the Intelligence
Community. The Administration criticized several provisions in the
bill and threatened a veto of
provisions that would alter current law that permits notification of
covert actions to only the
“Gang of Eight,” rather than the full membership of the two
intelligence committees. Information
could be limited only if one of the committees determines that not
all of its members are required
to a particular covert action finding.
On March 5, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee announced
an review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program which is
expected to take a year. On
April 16, the Administration released key memoranda from the Justice
Department’s Office of
Legal Counsel on the background of the program.
Media accounts indicate that the two intelligence committees will
also investigate reports that the
National Security Agency gathered communications of U.S. persons in
the process of adjusting its
practices in accordance with surveillance legislation enacted in
2008.
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