[excerpts on intelligence policy]
111th Congress Report
1st Session HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 111-230
_______________________________________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2010
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
[to accompany H.R. 3326]
July 24, 2009.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
INFORMATION OPERATIONS
The budget request includes nearly one billion dollars for
Department of Defense information operations (IO) programs. The
Committee has serious concerns about not only the significant
amount of funding being spent on these programs, but more
importantly, about the Department's assumption of this mission
area within its roles and responsibilities. Much of the content
of what is being produced, and certainly some of the largest
cost drivers in these programs, is focused so far beyond a
traditional military information operation that the term non-
traditional military information operation does not justly
apply. At face value, much of what is being produced appears to
be United States Military, and more alarmingly non-military
propaganda, public relations, and behavioral modification
messaging. The Committee questions the effectiveness of much of
the material being produced with this funding, the supposed
efforts to minimize target audience knowledge of United States'
Government sponsorship of certain production materials, and the
ability of the Department to evaluate the impact of these
programs.
The Committee also notes that the official budget
justification materials for requested funding of this magnitude
are woefully inadequate. In addition, the Department's response
to attempts by the Committee to obtain a meaningful explanation
of funding for these programs clearly indicates that
Departmental oversight of these efforts is disorganized, and
that a thorough understanding of their scope within the
Department's leadership is incomplete. According to the
Department's limited response for information on this funding,
IO programs have grown at an enormous rate, from approximately
$9,000,000 in fiscal year 2005, to a staggering $988,000,000
request for fiscal year 2010. The requested growth in these
programs from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2010 alone is
just over $200,000,000.
The Committee believes that the Department of Defense, and
the Combatant Commands which drive the demand for information
operations, need to reevaluate IO requirements in the context
of the roles and missions of the United States Military along
with consideration for the inherent capabilities of the
military and the funding available to meet these requirements.
In support of this evaluation, the Committee has determined
that many of the ongoing IO activities for which fiscal year
2010 funding is requested should be terminated immediately. The
programs for which funding is specifically denied are
identified in the classified annex to this report. Accordingly,
the Committee has reduced requested funding for information
operation programs in the various Service appropriations
accounts in which they have been requested by a total of
$500,000,000. Of the remaining funds provided for information
operations, the Committee directs that no funds shall be
obligated or expended until 30 days after the Secretary of
Defense submits a report to the Committees on Appropriations of
the House of Representatives and the Senate on the Department's
IO programs. This report should encompass the period from
fiscal years 2005 through 2010 and include all Department of
Defense information operation programs for which base budget,
supplemental, or overseas contingency operation funds have been
appropriated or requested. The report shall include: program
strategies, target audiences, goals, and measures of
effectiveness; budget exhibits at the appropriations account
and sub-activity level; spend plans (including positions and
other direct costs); and production and dissemination
mechanisms and locations. The report shall also include an
annex for the inclusion of necessary explanatory and supporting
classified information. The Secretary shall submit this report
in writing not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act.
[...]
SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES--PROCESSING, EXPLOITATION, AND DISSEMINATION
CAPABILITIES MODERNIZATION
The Committee is concerned about the urgent need for the
modernization of Special Operations Forces' (SOF) capabilities
to process, exploit, and disseminate critical operational
intelligence from deployed locations overseas and specifically
within the theater of operations. The immediacy of this
requirement was communicated to the Committee by SOF operators
during multiple visits to both Afghanistan and Iraq. Ongoing
SOF operations demonstrate the ability to collect significant
amounts of pocket litter, hard copy documents, hard drives,
cell phones, and other important hard copy and electronic media
with significant intelligence value. However, without
specialized expeditionary processing, this information becomes
inaccessible and of no value to SOF in immediate urgent
operational missions, and over the longer term to the war
fighter, the intelligence community and others in need of
access. To address this requirement, the Committee has provided
an additional $14,900,000 in funding for acquisition and
development of improved processing, exploitation, and
dissemination capabilities--$6,900,000 in ``Procurement,
Defense-Wide'', and $8,000,000 in ``Research, Development, Test
and Evaluation, Defense-Wide''.
Procurement funding is provided for acquisition of multi-
discipline intelligence processing, exploitation and
dissemination capabilities intended to meet Special Operations
Command's unfunded requirement for full motion video
exploitation. The funding will enable SOF to rapidly search and
exploit accumulated tactical intelligence in support of
operational decision-making and planning.
Funding provided for Distributed Common Ground/Surface
System (DCGS) capabilities modernization in the DCGS research,
development, test and evaluation program shall be used to
address requirements for integrating multi-function
intelligence processing, exploitation and dissemination
capabilities into the SOF information enterprise and the DCGS
architecture. This funding is also provided to develop a DCGS
tool for SOF to expand the capability to exploit documents and
media for tactical and timely intelligence in forward deployed
operations. The Committee believes that allowing larger volumes
of data to be captured and processed more quickly while in the
field will enable vastly improved support to not just SOF but
all deployed war fighter operations.
[...]
30-YEAR SPACE SYSTEM INVESTMENT STRATEGY
The Committee is concerned that there is no clear path for
space system investment. The Committee strongly believes that
an annual long-range plan for space system investment will
provide a necessary roadmap for future government and
industrial base investments. The Committee envisions this long-
range plan be structured like the Annual Long-Range Plan for
Construction of Naval Vessels. Similarly, this plan should
contain information on the research, development, test and
evaluation, as well as, the procurement, including schedule and
funding profiles, for all Department of Defense and
Intelligence Community National Security Space Systems,
including ground systems for the next 30 years.
The Committee also expects the plan to include individual
acquisition plans that provide descriptions of the programs and
how these systems will meet the national security needs
described in the most recent Quadrennial Defense Review and
Space Posture Review. The report should also include the
estimated levels of annual funding necessary to carry out the
programs as well as a discussion of the acquisition strategies
on which such estimated levels of annual funding are based to
include both military and national intelligence funding.
Because the long-range space investment strategy is
dependent on the state of the space industrial base, the
Committee recommends the Department of Defense Cost Assessment
and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office continue with the current
studies and projects on the Space Industrial Base and begin
other industrial base analysis efforts such as shipbuilding.
The Committee directs the Secretary of the Air Force and
the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, in
coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the Director of
National Intelligence, to deliver the 30-year Space System
Investment Strategy to the congressional defense and
intelligence committees by March 1, 2010. As necessary, the
report should contain a classified appendix.
Finally, the Committee also recognizes that good planning
requires good budgeting and oversight mechanisms. For the past
two years, the Committee has directed the Secretary of Defense
to create a major force program category for space. The
Committee expects that the space major force program will be
implemented by the submission of the fiscal year 2011 budget.
[...]
VOICE ANALYSIS FOR TRUTH VERIFICATION AND DETECTION OF DECEIT
The Secretary of Defense shall provide a report to the
congressional defense committees on memos, letters, and After
Action Field Reports supporting the use of security level
technologies designed for truth verification and detection of
deceit through voice analysis. The report shall be submitted
not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act.
[...]
SEA-BASED X-BAND RADAR
The mission of the Sensors Program is to efficiently
develop, acquire, test, field and operate an integrated sensor
enterprise. However, the Committee is concerned that there are
large unobligated and unexpended balances after fiscal year
2009, the first year of execution for the program element. The
Committee is also concerned that GTD-04 has already slipped to
the first quarter of fiscal year 2011. Therefore, the Committee
has reduced the Sea-Based X-Band Radar request by $13,000,000.
[...]
TITLE VII
RELATED AGENCIES
NATIONAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE PROGRAMS
The National Intelligence Program and the Military
Intelligence Program budgets funded in the Department of
Defense Appropriations Act consist primarily of resources for
the Director of National Intelligence including the
Intelligence Community Management staff, the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency, the
National Reconnaissance Office, the National Security Agency,
the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the intelligence
services of the Departments of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and
Marine Corps and the CIA Retirement and Disability fund.
CLASSIFIED ANNEX
The Committee's budget reviews are published in a separate
detailed and comprehensive classified annex. The intelligence
community, Department of Defense and other organizations are
expected to fully comply with the recommendations and
directions in the classified annex accompanying the Department
of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010. As directed by House
Resolution 35, the recommendations of the Select Intelligence
Oversight Panel are incorporated as recommendations to the
House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense, in the
accompanying classified annex.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY SYSTEM FUND
Fiscal year 2009 appropriation........................ $279,200,000
Fiscal year 2010 budget request....................... 290,900,000
Committee recommendation.............................. 290,900,000
Change from request................................... ................
This appropriation provides payments of benefits to
qualified beneficiaries in accordance with the Central
Intelligence Agency Retirement Act of 1964 for Certain
Employees (P.L. 88-643), as amended by Public Law 94-522. This
statute authorized the establishment of the CIA Retirement and
Disability System (CIARDS) for certain employees and authorized
the establishment and maintenance of a fund from which benefits
would be paid to those beneficiaries.
The Committee recommends the budget request of $290,900,000
for the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability
System fund. This is a mandatory account.
INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT ACCOUNT
Fiscal year 2009 appropriation........................ $710,042,000
Fiscal year 2010 budget request....................... 672,812,000
Committee recommendation.............................. 611,002,000
Change from request................................... -61,810,000
The Committee recommends an appropriation of $611,002,000
for the Intelligence Community Management Account, a decrease
of $61,810,000 below the budget request. Of the amount
appropriated under this heading, $24,000,000 may be transferred
to the Executive Office of the President for the Program
Manager for Information Sharing. The total program recommended
in the bill will provide the following in fiscal year 2010:
EXPLANATION OF PROJECT LEVEL ADJUSTMENTS
[in thousands of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee Change from
Budget request recommended request
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intelligence Community Management Account....................... 672,812 611,002 -61,810
Classified Adjustment....................................... .............. -64,810
Language Mentorship Program incorporating an electronic .............. 1,000
portfolio..................................................
Counter-Threat Finance--Global.............................. .............. 2,000
-----------------------------------------------
Total, ICMA............................................. 672,812 611,002 -61,810
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY'S BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION OFFICE
The Committee appreciates the progress the Business
Transformation Office (BTO) has made in the last year to the
Intelligence Community's business systems and looks forward to
continued progress to address these issues. The Committee has
included a funding transfer of the Financial Improvement Group
to the BTO and the Committee supports the efforts made by BTO
in creating the May 2009 BTO strategy. The Committee is
concerned that recent changes to place the BTO under the Chief
Information Office may not result in the necessary level of
emphasis and attention to these issues by senior management
within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and
within the Intelligence Community. The Committee requests that
the Director of National Intelligence review this recent change
and take the necessary steps to ensure that BTO initiatives are
successfully implemented. The Director of National Intelligence
is directed to report to the Committee on the actions taken to
ensure that these concerns are addressed.
The Committee remains concerned that the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence, the National Geospatial-
Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the
National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and
the National Reconnaissance Office cannot receive unqualified
or ``clean'' financial audit opinions. This reality is even
more concerning considering the Intelligence Community spends
over a quarter billion dollars annually on ``financial
management,'' which does not include other business systems and
processes like procurement, human resources, or logistics.
Therefore, within 90 days of enactment of this Act, the
Committee directs the Director of National Intelligence to
submit a report that: 1) addresses the acquisition challenges
facing the Business Transformation Office; 2) explains where
the most efficient and secure place to store the Community's
business data will be for the foreseeable future; and 3) review
the process for hiring highly qualified experts and provide
recommendations that streamline the current bureaucratic
process to one that allows the Director of the Business
Transformation Office to efficiently build an effective staff.
Finally, the report should provide a target date when all
National Intelligence Program funds will achieve a sustainable
unqualified audit opinion.
[...]
INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING STRATEGIC DESIGN
The Committee continues to be concerned with the lack of a
strategic plan when it comes to the Intelligence Community's
professional education curriculum and supporting training
programs. The current patchwork of academies, courses, language
training efforts and schools is the result of multiple programs
and initiatives instead of a coherent strategy. The Director of
National Intelligence needs to benchmark successful programs
like the Department of Defense's National Defense University
and develop an appropriate educational and professional
development strategy for the Intelligence Community that
creates an innovative and competitive 21st century professional
intelligence workforce. The Committee would like to see steps
taken to establish the Intelligence Community's cap-stone
school in a manner that takes best advantage of opportunities
for learning synergies and a transformative learning
environment with other national security students. Also, the
Committee directs that steps be taken to evolve the National
Defense Intelligence College to a fee-for-service program so
that both Congress and the executive branch can be assured that
there is still a true demand for the product being provided.
[...]
HUMAN LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGY
The Committee directs the Director of National Intelligence
to submit to the congressional intelligence committees within
120 days of enactment of this Act, a report on the status of
Human Language Technology (HLT) within the Intelligence
Community. The report shall identify an intelligence community
executive agent responsible for the coordination of research,
development, and implementation of HLT initiatives, identify
current HLT capabilities and their return on investment,
project future HLT requirements, and describe efforts to
implement community licensing.
