Congressional Record: September 15, 2004 (Senate)
Page S9288
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. SPECTER:
S. 2811. A bill to establish the Department of Intelligence, to
modify and enhance authorities and responsibilities relating to the
administration of intelligence and the intelligence community, and for
other purposes; to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition to introduce
the Intelligence Reformation Act of 2004, also known as the ``9/11
Act.'' This bill creates clear, unambiguous lines of authority in the
intelligence community, which assures both accountability and
sufficient command authority for a new Department and Director of
Intelligence to manage and coordinate the intelligence community, break
down existing stovepipes, demand accountability among the agencies, set
requirements, and use new directive authority to quickly task
collection and analysis while moving personnel and resources to respond
to new and emerging situations.
The unanimous recommendations which accompany the Report of the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Against the United States
(``9/11 Commission''), and the Executive orders issued on August 27,
2004, relating to information sharing, intelligence community
management, and the National Counterterrorism Center, are intended to
address systematic, long-term problems with the U.S. Intelligence
Community that have been highlighted by the various investigations into
the 9/11 tragedy, including the findings of the Senate Intelligence
Committee on Iraq Pre-War Intelligence, and the congressional Joint
Inquiry recommendations issued in 2002. Our country has during the last
decade suffered through an escalating cycle of intelligence failures
while witnessing the onset of new global threats--most notably
terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The
existing intelligence community structure is disorganized and
dysfunctional, and thus incapable of effectively responding to these
threats.
The restructuring recommendations of the President and 9/11
Commission are consistent with the reorganization efforts I undertook
as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee during the 104th
Congress, my efforts to install a Director of National Intelligence
beginning in 1986, and my work in 1998-1999 on the Commission to Assess
the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation
of Weapons of Mass Destruction (``WMD Commission''), as well as that of
no fewer than 15 independent commissions and legislative or executive
branch attempts at restructuring the intelligence community, beginning
in 1955 with the Second Hoover Commission.
It is imperative that we immediately put into place a national
security structure that is competent to confront this enemy. While the
9/11 Commission and recent Executive orders provide helpful guidance,
much discretion is left to Congress in determining the scope and nature
of the restructuring of the intelligence community.
Under the legislation I introduce today, budgetary authority will be
a principal means for the new Director of Intelligence to maintain
supervision and control of the intelligence community. For example, the
Director would have the National Foreign Intelligence Program
appropriation go directly to him, and that appropriation would remain
under his jurisdiction through the budget execution process.
Further, enhanced tasking authority would facilitate coordinated
intelligence collection and analysis and overcome the ``culture of
concealment'' that exists among intelligence entities.
And clear lines of authority, including the ability of the Director
to hire and fire intelligence community personnel, will in turn avoid
the uncertainty of ``serving two masters.'' Clear lines of authority
means that intelligence community personnel will not suffer from the
disorder and paralysis that epitomized the community prior to 9/11, and
which continues today. This legislation differs from the 9/11
Commission recommendations on restructuring the intelligence community
in two main respects: the institution of a ten-year term for the
Director of Intelligence in order to remove him from political
influence, and the direct control and supervision by the Director of
the major national intelligence community entities, rather than the
untested ``dual hatting'' approach favored by the 9/11 Commission.
I also believe that any legislation must address the FBI failures
that preceded 9/11. By placing the certain FBI functions under the
direction of the new Director of Intelligence, FBI missteps in
communication, intelligence gathering and analysis that contributed to
failures in anticipating the 9/11 attack and in intercepting the
hijackers can be averted in the future, while adding necessary
safeguards to protect privacy and civil liberties. And this bill, like
the bill I have introduced with Senators McCain and Lieberman, codifies
the 9/11 Commission recommendations on FBI reform.
Other important reforms undertaken by this legislation are also
contained in the 9/11 Commission bill. For example, consistent with the
recent conclusions of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the
legislation would require the National Intelligence Council to
incorporate alternative views held by elements of the intelligence
community into National Intelligence Estimates (NIE), and be certified
as approved for publication by the Director of Intelligence and the
Chair of the National Intelligence Council.
The Director and Department of Intelligence that I recommend fully
integrate the 9/11 Commission and President's important tenets of
central direction, coordination, and control by a high-ranking
intelligence official and would bring crucial expertise and immediate
direction to the many intelligence challenges we face. Creating a
Department of Intelligence, run by a Director empowered with full
budget execution and clear line authority over national intelligence,
but without a large new bureaucratic infrastructure, is a proposal
which best meets the need of the intelligence community.
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