Senators unveil bipartisan intelligence overhaul bill
Measure would create a national intelligence director with considerable budget and personnel authority.
The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday unveiled bipartisan legislation to overhaul intelligence programs, creating in the process a new National Counterterrorism Center and a national intelligence director.
The legislation, based in part on recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission, would give the NID considerable budget and personnel authority over numerous intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the FBI's Office of Intelligence. But it would keep within the Defense Department the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office. The Pentagon, as the primary consumer of national intelligence information, controls 80 percent of the estimated $40 billion annual intelligence budget. Tactical military intelligence also would remain under the control of the Defense Department.
"The most critical authority for the NID is controlling these agencies' funding," according to a briefing paper, which stated that the new director will develop the annual budget request for the National Intelligence Program and control appropriated funds. "As a result, the NID will have not only the power of the purse to force integration among these agencies but also 'execution' authority to monitor how these agencies spend their funds."
The legislation will take its cue from the commission's recommendation and declassify the intelligence program's total appropriations figure in an effort to promote public accountability. The NID, the National Counterterrorism Center and numerous "national intelligence centers" will be housed in a new National Intelligence Authority headed by the NID, rather than in the executive office.
The NID and Defense secretary would jointly choose the directors of the National Security Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office. It would have to concur with the FBI director's selection of the head of that agency's Office of Intelligence and the Homeland Security secretary's pick for the undersecretary for intelligence analysis and infrastructure protection. The NID also will have some say in choosing the director of the CIA.
"Our response to the threat of terrorist attacks must be far-reaching and must utilize America's full capacity to meet any challenge. We believe this legislation that we are unveiling today is an essential part of that response," said Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.
Collins and Lieberman were given the task of developing a Senate response to the 9/11 Commission report by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. Since late July, the committee has held eight hearings on the commission's recommendations.
The Senate is expected to vote on its bill by the end of September. The House is working on similar legislation under a similar deadline.