Congressional Record: April 26, 2006 (Senate)
Page S3591-S3598
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
S. 2660. A bill to amend the National Security Act of 1947 to require
notice to Congress of certain declassifications of intelligence
information, and for other purposes; to the Select Committee on
Intelligence.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I introduce today legislation to
require the White House to notify Congress when it declassifies
information. This bill will both enhance Congress's oversight abilities
and ensure that intelligence is not used for political gain.
This legislation recognizes that as the head of the executive branch,
the President has the authority to declassify any information he so
chooses. It does not place any conditions or procedures on that
declassification process, it only requires that the Congress be
provided with notice so that it can meet its own constitutional
responsibilities.
Information is usually declassified because the public's need to know
outweighs the security risks to intelligence sources and methods. In
such cases, it is important for the Congress to be informed so that
Senators and Representatives can discuss the issues with the American
people.
And if the President declassifies information so that his
subordinates can discuss intelligence with reporters, Congress should
be alerted so that the intelligence committees can ensure that national
secrets are not being used for political purposes.
According to court filings and media reports, the Vice President's
chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, acting on the direction and
authorization of the President and Vice President, disclosed
information in the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction to select journalists. This was not done to
provide the American people with a fuller understanding of the pre-Iraq
war intelligence; the Estimate was fully and publicly declassified
shortly afterwards in a more appropriate manner. Rather, the selective
declassification and leak was intended to stem a tide of bad press and
discredit an administration critic through a subtle campaign of media
manipulation.
According to the prosecutor in Mr. Libby's case, Libby provided
information on Iraq's purchase of uranium from Niger to New York Times
reporter Judith Miller. The Niger claim was not a ``key judgment'' of
the NIE, meaning that it was not deemed by the intelligence community
to be a priority. It was included in the body of the report ``for
completeness,'' according to the primary author. At the time, the
Department of State's intelligence office found the Niger uranium claim
to be ``highly dubious,'' and the intelligence community downplayed the
Niger connection afterwards:
The CIA had deleted a reference to Niger from the President's October
7, 2002 speech in Cincinnati;
Two senior intelligence officials had downplayed the assessment in
testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee;
The International Atomic Energy Agency had denounced the claim as
being based on forged documents; and
The intelligence community had retracted the intelligence.
Let me say that again: the intelligence community had retracted this
piece of intelligence. None of this additional information, apparently,
was provided by Mr. Libby.
Had the Senate and House intelligence committees been informed of
this declassification, as would be required by this legislation,
Members could have corrected the public record.
[[Page S3598]]
I would hope that with this reporting requirement, administrations of
both political parties will be deterred from improper use of
intelligence.
In addition to stemming the politicization of intelligence, the bill
I introduce today also notes the importance of keeping the full
intelligence community informed of declassifications. If the President
chooses, for whatever reason, to declassify information, the
intelligence agency that had been responsible for those secrets has to
take steps to protect intelligence sources and methods.
Similarly, the National Archives are to be informed upon a
Presidential declassification so the Nation's records can be
appropriately maintained. As has been highlighted again today with the
release of the Archives audit over the reclassification of
intelligence, the Archives play an important role in providing
declassified intelligence to the public. To do so, it must be informed
when information enters the public domain.
It should be made clear that there are more traditional procedures by
which individual intelligence agencies declassify information on a
regular basis, when the release of that information is seen as no
longer damaging the national security. This is done thousands of times
a week throughout the intelligence community.
It is important that the public have access to as much information on
its government's activities as possible. To that end, I look forward,
through this legislation and otherwise, to working with my colleagues
and the executive branch to ensure that declassification is done as
extensively and as quickly as possible without risking our national
security.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 2660
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. NOTICE TO CONGRESS OF CERTAIN DECLASSIFICATIONS OF
INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION.
(a) Notice Required.--
(1) In general.--Title V of the National Security Act of
1947 (50 U.S.C. 413 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end
the following new section:
``notice to congress on certain declassifications of intelligence
``Sec. 508. (a) Notice Required.--Not later than 15 days
after the date of the declassification of any intelligence by
the President, or Vice President if authorized by Executive
Order or other delegation of authority from the President,
the President shall submit to the congressional intelligence
committees notice on the declassification of such
intelligence.
``(b) Sense of Congress on Additional Notice.--It is the
sense of Congress that, in furtherance of the protection of
intelligence sources and methods and to ensure appropriate
handling and dissemination of intelligence, any notice
submitted to the congressional intelligence committees under
subsection (a) should also be submitted to--
``(1) the Director of National Intelligence;
``(2) the Archivist of the United States; and
``(3) the heads of applicable elements of the intelligence
community.
``(c) Exception.--This section does not apply to the
declassification of intelligence done as part of the
mandatory or systematic declassification of information as
described by section 3 of Executive Order No. 13292, of March
25, 2003, or any successor Executive Order.''.
(2) Clerical amendment.--The table of contents for that Act
is amended by inserting after the item relating to section
507 the following new item:
``Sec. 508. Notice to Congress on certain declassifications of
intelligence.''.
(b) Reports to Congress on Certain Officials Authorized To
Declassify Information.--
(1) Initial report.--Not later than 15 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to
the congressional intelligence committees a report setting
forth a current list of each official of the Executive Office
of the President, other than the President, who is authorized
to declassify information other than information originally
classified by such official.
(2) Updates.--Not later than 15 days after adding or
removing an official from the list required by paragraph (1),
the President shall submit to the congressional intelligence
committees an update of the list and a notice of the addition
or removal of such official from the list.
(3) Congressional intelligence committees defined.--In this
subsection, the term ``congressional intelligence
committees'' means--
(A) the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and
(B) the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the
House of Representatives.
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