SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE REPORTS INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2001
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence unanimously approved legislation, S.2507, authorizing funds for fiscal year 2001 for programs and activities of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The legislation authorizes funds for the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and other Intelligence Community entities.
The Committee's number one priority was the recapitalization of the National Security Agency, which is discussed in the "Highlights" section below. The Committee also recommended increases in funding for high-priority projects aimed at better positioning the Intelligence Community for the threats of the 21st Century, while at the same time reducing funds for programs and activities that were poorly justified or redundant. The net result was a modest increase to the overall budget request for intelligence for fiscal year 2001.
Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), the Committee Chairman, stated, "I am pleased that Committee members supported, on a bipartisan basis, recommendations for modernizing the National Security Agency and placing the proper budgetary emphasis on this critical intelligence collection capability. The radically altered, post-Cold War security environment demands new technologies, new ways of doing business, and bold leadership for change. The Committee has taken the first step to provide the funds and guidance to improve our ability to provide military commanders and national policymakers with timely, accurate information on threats to our security. We accomplished this in a fiscally responsible manner, in recognition of budgetary constraints. This is a bill that the Congress and the President should support."
Sen. Richard Bryan (D-NV.), the Committee Vice Chairman, said, "in establishing intelligence priorities such as recapitalizing the National Security Agency, the Committee has been forced to make some tough budget trade-offs. The process has been difficult but necessary. We can no longer adopt a business-as-usual approach to such critical problems as NSA modernization. If we continue to insist on doing so, we almost certainly will seriously undermine our Intelligence Community and the critical role it plays in safe-guarding the Nation's security. Further delay is simply unacceptable. We have identified critical Intelligence Community weaknesses. The challenge now is to effectively address them. This bill does that by establishing funding priorities and channeling additional resources into those areas that will most effectively contribute to our security."
Highlights:
1. Rebuilding the NSA: Failure to invest in the infrastructure and organizational changes required to keep pace with revolutionary developments in the global telecommunications arena have undermined the NSA's ability to provide America's leaders with vital signals intelligence. As a result, the NSA enters the 21st Century lacking the tools necessary to maintain the status quo, much less meet emerging challenges. The Committee's number one priority for FY2001 is to modernize the National Security Agency, bring it up to date, and prepare it for future threats.
2. Processing and Dissemination of Intelligence: The Committee continues to be concerned with the growing imbalance between our ability to collect intelligence and our capability to process, analyze, and disseminate it. Each new, more capable collection system produces an ever growing stream of raw intelligence. The budget request fails to invest the resources necessary to resolve this problem. The Committee recommends a number of funding changes to bolster processing and dissemination efforts in FY2001.
3. Security at the State Department: Responding to a series of security and counterintelligence problems at the Department of State, the Committee's bill prohibits any State Department element, not complying with applicable rules governing classified information, from retaining or storing intelligence information classified as "Sensitive Compartmented Information." While supportive of efforts to improve the security procedures and practices throughout the State Department, the Committee questions whether the transfer of responsibility for protecting Sensitive Compartmented Information from the Bureau of Intelligence and Research to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security is the appropriate solution. The Committee will continue to review proposed security reforms at the State Department to ensure counterintelligence concerns are properly addressed.
Senator Shelby said, "the Department of State has had ample opportunity to address a series of egregious security lapses. If they are not willing or able to comply with the rules and regulations followed by other agencies within the Intelligence Community, they should not be allowed to handle or store this highly classified and critical national security information. The Committee believes that this is a necessary step to protect our nation's most sensitive information from an agency that appears incapable or unwilling to do it themselves."
4. Creation of a POW/MIA Analytic Capability: Following up on the Committee's review of the case of Navy Lt. Commander Michael Speicher, who was shot down over Iraq in January 1991, the bill directs the Director of Central Intelligence to establish and maintain a prisoners of war and missing-in-action analytic capability within the Intelligence Community.
5. Security Breach by Former Director of Central Intelligence Deutch: The Committee's initial inquiry into security breaches by former DCI John Deutch concluded, "Mr. Deutch, whose conduct should have served as the highest example, instead displayed a shocking and reckless disregard for the most basic security practices required of thousands of government employees throughout the CIA and other agencies of the Intelligence Community." The Committee intends to release a report on its inquiry into the Deutch matter, including the actions of senior CIA officials.
6. Counterproliferation and Counterterrorism: The Committee, consistent with its ongoing support for the counterproliferation and counterterrorism missions, bolstered Intelligence Community efforts in these areas. The Committee commended the Intelligence Community, on behalf of the American people, for its dedicated efforts in fighting international terrorism, particularly during the recent millennial period.
7. Counternarcotics: The Committee continues its commitment to intelligence programs essential to stemming the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. The Bill removes statutory impediments to the Administration's proposed realignment of the many agencies and centers involved in counterdrug intelligence. This realignment is overdue, and the Committee expects it will lead to better information sharing between various federal agencies and better flow of intelligence to state and local law enforcement.
Copies of S. 2507 and the accompanying report are available by contacting the Senate Document Room (202-224-7860), the Committee (202-224-1700), or the Senate's Web Site (www.congress.gov).
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