Congressional Record: June 9, 2004 (Senate)
Page S6675-S6677
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Ms. SNOWE:
S. 2515. A bill to establish the Inspector General for Intelligence,
and for other purposes; to the Select Committee on Intelligence.
Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that
will address what I believe are fundamental deficiencies in the
Intelligence Community's organization and methods of accountability.
For some time, we have been engaged in an ongoing national debate
about the scope, methods, organization and
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mission of our intelligence agencies. Since the creation of our modern
Intelligence Community as part of the National Security Act of 1947
there have been numerous recommendations to strengthen the Intelligence
Community leadership and mission to foster better communications and
better serve the national security of the nation. Events over the last
decade have highlighted some disturbing intelligence failures--we have
all spoken sadly of the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, the Khobar
Towers tragedy, the attack on the USS Cole, the bombs at our embassies
in East Africa and of course, September 11. As a Congress we have an
obligation to address these incidents and work to better our
intelligence gathering and disseminating capabilities to ensure this
list is not added to.
As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence--and a
former member of committees on international relations and armed
services in both this body and the other--I have participated in this
national debate on many fronts and for many years. Irrespective of the
events surrounding Director Tenet's recent resignation, I have believed
strongly in the need for reform of the Intelligence Community for some
time.
There is no question that the Intelligence Community requires
systemic changes. Specifically, increases in human intelligence, better
information sharing and greater accountability are all issues that
desperately need to be addressed, and more importantly, acted on. It is
my hope that the Intelligence Committee aggressively pursue specific
recommendations based on a Committee-authored report to make
substantive changes that will address the flaws that have been
tragically revealed.
Americans need to know that their intelligence services are doing the
best job possible in protecting their security. I say this even while I
must recognize the dedication and professionalism of the thousands of
Americans who make up our Intelligence Community. Each day across this
country and around the world, they labor, mostly without recognition,
to keep this country safe from harm. Our intelligence employees work
under very demanding conditions and in environments that are extremely
dangerous and can often shift without notice. They operate in a dizzing
world of ``what ifs'' where the rules change daily. It is their
vigilance upon which we rely to give us the forewarning necessary to
counter the many dangers present in our world. Although it is
impossible to directly express our deep appreciation for their efforts,
I charge this body to relay our eternal gratitude to those who serve
America so well.
But too often, breakdowns can occur that put Americans' lives at
risk. There are many of us in Congress who believe that we have gone
too long without making any real efforts to reform the Intelligence
Community.
However appreciative we are of the service done by those who work in
the fifteen agencies that make up our nation's Intelligence Community,
we as a Congress have a responsibility to continue to work to find ways
to help them do an even better job, and more importantly, to ensure
that any failures are not repeated and that we learn from past
mistakes. And at the same time, we have an obligation to the people of
this country to ensure that both pride and comfort in our intelligence
services exist. The people of this nation, and those of us elected to
represent them, have a right to know that when mistakes are made,
corrections soon follow.
A major focus of mine for many years now has been accountability--
ensuring, for example, that government employees who issue travel visas
to known terrorists are accountable to the American public for their
actions. In this same vein, I'd like to see greater accountability
brought to the Intelligence Community.
The bill I am introducing today--the ``Intelligence Community
Accountability Act of 2004''--creates an independent Inspector General
for Intelligence. This IG is not housed within any one agency, rather,
it is an Inspector General for the entire Intelligence Community--all
fifteen agencies and department members.
We must recognize that fifteen government agencies with fifteen
different heads, fifteen different missions, fifteen chains of command
and fifteen institutional paradigms are often handicapped in
promulgating national intelligence. This in turn can lead to
disconnects. And sadly in this business, such failures can lead to loss
of life as we have been so graphically reminded over and over.
Intelligence comes from a variety of sources and in a wide array of
forms. The fifteen members of the Intelligence Community must
adequately interpret what they see, hear and find and then communicate
that to policy-makers who decide best how to use it in the defense of
our homeland and interests abroad. The often used but highly
appropriate cliche, ``connecting the dots'' requires extensive inter-
agency cooperation for this to happen. And if that doesn't happen and
failures occur as a result . . . who do we hold accountable? How do we
ensure it doesn't happen again?
Let me be clear, the Inspector General for Intelligence, or IGI, that
this legislation creates will not diminish the power of the IG's that
already exist within each of the Intelligence Community member
agencies. Rather, it will enhance their powers, giving them an
overarching body to turn to when their own institutional limits are
reached--when their investigations or complaints involve other
Intelligence Community members who may be unwilling to cooperate or
unable to provide answers or where roadblocks caused by inter-agency
``turf wars'' are reached. It helps to fill a void in the
accountability and oversight responsibilities of the Director of
Central Intelligence in his role as head of the entire Intelligence
Community.
In the recent committee report to accompany the FY 2005 Intelligence
Authorization bill, the committee acknowledged the need for changes in
the Intelligence Community and stated that it believes the process of
reform ``must begin.'' Therefore, I submit that we begin as soon as
possible--I know that the Chairman of our committee is committed to
this effort and I hope that by bringing my legislation forward at this
time, my colleagues can see that I too am eager for progress and
momentum.
Make no mistake--this effort is intended to be part of a larger push
to overhaul the entire intelligence community's organizational
structure. I welcome such a push and as we move forward in that
endeavor, I will work to ensure my legislation is included in the
deliberations. But until that happens, I implore my colleagues to study
the issue, read my legislation and work with me to create this office.
In looking at the Intelligence Community, we need to recognize that
we are dealing with an amorphous entity made up of fifteen agencies,
parts of departments, and independent bodies all spread out within our
federal government. They each have their own mission, chain of command,
procedures, history and institutional paradigms.
By law, and specifically according to Executive Order 12333 issued by
President Reagan in 1981, the Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency wears a ``double hat'' by serving as the Director of the entire
Intelligence Community.
Within the structure created, he often does the best he can. But as
head of one of the agencies in the Community, his hands are often tied
when it comes to exercising his authority over the other 14 members of
a community over which he has jurisdiction.
Currently the Director of Central Intelligence has limited budget
authority over the Pentagon's intelligence budget--which represents
approximately 85 percent of the total intelligence community budget.
According to Executive Order 12333, which also defines the
responsibilities of the Director of Central Intelligence, the DCI is
charged with working with the Secretary of Defense to ensure that there
is no unnecessary overlap between national foreign intelligence
programs and Department of Defense intelligence programs. This provides
him with limited authority over the DoD intelligence budget, although
historically this authority has not been exercised.
My legislation will essentially preserve the powers and role that the
Director of Central Intelligence currently enjoys as adivsor to the
President and head of the Intelligence Community, but it would make his
office a separate
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entity and a member of the President's Cabinet.
I saw firsthand the consequences of serious inadequacies in
coordination and communication during my twelve years as ranking member
of the House Foreign Affairs International Operations Subcommittee and
chair of the International Operations Subcommittee of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee. It was this lack of coordination that
permitted the radical Egyptian Sheik Rahman, the mastermind of the
first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, to enter and exit the U.S.
five times unimpeded even after he was put on the State Department's
Lookout List in 1987, and allowed him to get permanent residence status
by the INS even after the State Department issued a certification of
visa revocation.
And after the attacks of 9-11, I worked hard to point out the
importance of the ``Three C's'' that has been lacking among federal
agencies that are integral to preventing terrorism: coordination,
communication, and cooperation.
This legislation that I am introducing today, is an extension of my
efforts then.
The bottom line is, if knowledge is power, we are only as strong as
the weakest link in our information network--therefore, we must ensure
that the only ``turf war'' will be the one to protect American turf. In
our fight against terrorism, we can do no less.
We must move heaven and earth to remove the impediments that keep us
from maximizing our defense against terrorism, and that means changing
the prevailing system and culture by re-focusing on the ``Three C's'':
coordination, communication and cooperation.
Many of our greatest victories--those won by the men and women in our
intelligence services--will be measured by the attacks that never
happen . . . in battles we win before they ever have a name . . . in
conflicts we prevent before they ever claim one American life. I hope
we will pass and enact legislation that will help make that possible.
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