Senate intelligence panel approves authorization bill

Emphasizing the need to revamp intelligence programs and provide additional resources for the global war on terrorism, the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday approved the fiscal 2005 intelligence authorization act.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said the bill takes an important step to improve oversight of the intelligence community by eliminating term limits for members of the committee, and its accompanying report includes "strong language" regarding intelligence community changes to be undertaken during the present session of Congress.

"We hope to put together a package of reforms that will address systemic problems in the intelligence community," Roberts said after Tuesday's markup. "We know we need to fix things, but there are a lot of different proposals that may not fit the situation."

Roberts added that once the committee completes its initial prewar intelligence report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs, it will hold comprehensive hearings with expert witnesses who can suggest ways to fix problems plaguing the intelligence community.

In a statement, Roberts said the committee "must ensure that we do not make changes just for the sake of change. Instead, our actions should be directed at identified problems which lend themselves to legislative solutions. While there is general agreement that the time for significant change has come, we are all very cognizant of the necessity to first do no harm."

Intelligence Vice Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said he supports the committee's focus on intelligence community restructuring. "Given what I see as a growing consensus both in and outside government in support of reform, we can't allow this opportunity to slip by," he said in the committee's statement. The bill itself contains a number of key provisions, according to the committee's statement, including the clarification of the director of central intelligence's authorities for personnel serving under non-traditional cover by providing enhanced security for intelligence operations and relieving associated administrative burdens.

The bill also amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to enable the employment of FISA techniques against non-U.S. citizens who are suspected of acting as "lone wolf" terrorists. This provision incorporates the text of a bill passed by the full Senate last year.

Rockefeller said the bill also includes more resources toward the evolving global war on terrorism.

"While the intelligence community's budget has received sizeable increases since the terrorist attacks of [Sept. 11, 2001], the administration's spending priorities have not always reflected what is needed to properly fund the war on terrorism," Rockefeller said. "In several important programs, the committee has increased funding above the administration's request to bolster our counterterrorism efforts."