104th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 104-277
_______________________________________________________________________
TO AUTHORIZE APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997 FOR INTELLIGENCE AND
INTELLIGENCE-RELATED ACTIVITIES OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
_______
June 6, 1996.--Ordered to be printed
_______________________________________________________________________
Mr. Thurmond, from the Committee on Armed Services, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1718]
The Committee on Armed Services, to which was referred the
bill (S. 1718) having considered the same, reports favorably
thereon with amendments and recommends that the bill as amended
do pass.
purpose of the bill
S. 1718 would authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1997
for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the
United States Government, including certain Department of
Defense intelligence-related activities within the jurisdiction
of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) reported
the bill on April 30, 1996 and it was referred to the Committee
on Armed Services on May 2, 1996 in accordance with section
3(b) of Senate Resolution 400, 94th Congress.
scope of committee review
The committee conducted a detailed review of the
intelligence community authorization request for fiscal year
1997. The committee conducted hearings and met with the
Chairman and Vice Chairman of the SSCI to discuss budget
matters and legislative provisions of concern to both
committees. The committee also engaged in lengthy and detailed
negotiations in an attempt to resolve issues of disagreement
between the SASC and the SSCI.
The committee has carefully reviewed the report of the SSCI
(Sen. Rep. 104-258) and has incorporated the relevant budget
decisions of the SSCI into S. 1745, the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997, which was reported to
the Senate on May 13, 1996.
The following explains the committee's proposed amendment
to the bill as reported by the SSCI, as well as the committee's
clarification to the report issued by the SSCI.
Overview
S. 1718, as reported by the SSCI, contains a number of
controversial provisions, which the SASC opposes and the
Executive Branch does not support. On April 15, 1996, the
Chairman and Ranking Minority Member of the SASC wrote to the
Chairman and Vice Chairman of the SSCI to express concern
regarding these issues and to urge the SSCI not to include such
provisions in the Intelligence Authorization Bill for Fiscal
Year 1997. In general, these provisions seek to shift a
significant degree of authority from the Secretary of Defense
to the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), especially in
the area of budget formulation and execution. The bill also
contains a number of provisions that, taken together, lay the
foundation for the creation of what amounts to a ``Department
of Intelligence.'' The SASC supports a strong DCI yet maintains
that the DCI's function is not to act as a quasi-departmental
head, but to coordinate the intelligence activities of various
departments and to act as the principal intelligence advisor to
the President and the National Security Council. Providing the
DCI the type of authority recommended by the SSCI would
seriously undermine the Secretary of Defense's ability to
manage the Department of Defense. The committee notes that the
Secretary of Defense strongly opposes such a shift of power and
the DCI has not sought such authorities. If S. 1718 were passed
in its current form, it would almost certainly be vetoed.
The SSCI nonetheless included many of the controversial
provisions in S. 1718, thereby creating a significant
disagreement between the SASC and the SSCI. Once S. 1718 had
been referred to the SASC on sequential referral (as the
Intelligence Authorization Bill is every year), the SASC
Chairman and Ranking Minority Member agreed to enter into
negotiations with the SSCI to attempt to resolve these
differences. Notwithstanding this effort to work out a
consensus in good faith, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the
SSCI took the unprecedented step of requesting sequential
referral of the Defense Authorization Bill.
After three weeks of negotiations and four proposals and
counter-proposals between the committees, the SASC concluded
that, given the SSCI's insistence on retaining many of the
controversial elements of S. 1718, the differences between the
committees were unresolvable through negotiation. Therefore,
the SASC has decided to report S. 1718 to the Senate, with a
proposed amendment addressing the bill's major deficiencies.
The SSCI retains the right to follow a similar procedure with
regard to S. 1745. This approach would leave it to the Senate
to resolve issues of disagreement between the committees on
both S. 1718 and S. 1745.
The committee notes that its proposed amendment only deals
with issues within the jurisdiction of the SASC, and that S.
1718 contains a number of other controversial provisions that
fall within the jurisdiction of other committees. The committee
has not taken a position on these matters, per se, but
individual members of the committee, or other members of the
Senate, may offer amendments to S. 1718 to address these
issues.
The committee recommends the following specific amendments
to S. 1718.
Section 707--Enhancement of authority of Director of Central
Intelligence to manage budget, personnel, and activities of
intelligence community
Section 707, as reported by the SSCI, would significantly
expand the DCI's authority over the DOD elements of the
intelligence community. It would: (1) require the Secretary of
Defense to get DCI concurrence on the Joint Military
Intelligence Program (JMIP) budget, and consult with the DCI on
the Tactical Intelligence and Related Activities (TIARA)
budget; (2) give the DCI authority to manage all the national
collection activities of the intelligence community (including
Defense human intelligence); (3) require that any reprogramming
within the JMIP receive DCI approval; (4) give the DCI
authority to reprogram funds and transfer personnel among
National Foreign Intelligence Program (NFIP) elements after
consultation with (in lieu of concurrence by) agency heads; (5)
give the DCI authority to allocate and expend all NFIP funds
for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the National
Security Agency (NSA), and the National Imagery and Mapping
Agency (NIMA) (giving the DCI authority he now only has for the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)).
The proposed SASC amendment would enhance the DCI's
participation in the management of Defense intelligence
activities, but would not alter the authority of the Secretary
of Defense over such activities. Specifically, the amendment
would: (1) provide for the participation of the DCI in the
development of budgets for JMIP and TIARA, while leaving the
final authority on these matters with the Secretary; (2) give
the DCI the peacetime authority to approve national collection
requirements, determine national collection priorities, and
resolve conflicts in collection priorities levied on national
collection assets; (3) require the Secretary of Defense to
consult with the DCI on JMIP reprogramming actions; (4) strike
SSCI language allowing the DCI to transfer NFIP funds over the
objection of the affected Defense Agency head; (5) strike the
SSCI language giving the DCI authority to manage and expend
funds for Defense Department elements of the NFIP, and
substitute language establishing a database on intelligence
funding to give the DCI greater insight into the overall
intelligence budget; (6) strike SSCI language giving the DCI
authority to rotate personnel in the absence of coordination
with agency heads.
Section 708--Reallocation of responsibilities of Director of Central
Intelligence and Secretary of Defense for intelligence
activities under National Foreign Intelligence Program
Section 708, as reported by the SSCI, would give the DCI
joint management authority with the Secretary of Defense over
the NFIP elements in the Department of Defense, including NRO,
NSA, and NIMA.
The proposed SASC amendment would strike the SSCI's
language and substitute a provision that would require the
Secretary of Defense to consult with the DCI in fulfilling his
responsibilities pertaining to the NFIP (as provided in Section
105 of Title 50, U.S.C.). The SASC amendment would also require
the DCI to submit an annual evaluation to Congress and the
National Security Council on the performance of the NRO, NSA,
and NIMA in meeting their national missions.
Section 709--Improvement of intelligence collection
Section 709, as reported by the SSCI, would establish the
position of Assistant DCI for Collection, to be appointed by
the President and confirmed by the Senate. Section 709 would
also transfer the responsibilities and authorities of the
Secretary of Defense for the clandestine elements of the
Defense Human Intelligence Service to the DCI.
The proposed SASC amendment would modify the authorities of
the Assistant DCI for Collection, limiting them to general
responsibilities in assisting the DCI in carrying out existing
collection authorities. The proposed SASC amendment would also
strike the SSCI language regarding the transfer of authorities
over the Defense Human Intelligence Services, and substitute
language requiring a report by the DCI and the Deputy Secretary
of Defense regarding on-going activities of those officials to
achieve commonality, interoperability, and, where practicable,
consolidation between the clandestine human intelligence
activities of the Defense Human Intelligence Service and the
CIA.
Section 711--Improvement of administration of intelligence activities
Section 711, as reported by the SSCI, would establish the
position of Assistant DCI for Administration to be appointed by
the President and confirmed by the Senate.
The proposed SASC amendment would modify the SSCI language
specifying the duties of the Assistant DCI for Administration
by dropping a detailed listing of areas for administration.
Section 714--Office of Congressional Affairs
Section 714, as reported by the SSCI, would establish an
office of congressional affairs for the intelligence community.
The proposed SASC amendment would change the designation of
this new office to ``Office of Congressional Affairs for the
Director of Central Intelligence'' to reflect that this new
office would not manage the activities of the various
congressional affairs offices in the Department of Defense.
Section 715--Assistance for law enforcement agencies by intelligence
community
Section 715, as reported by the SSCI, would authorize U.S.
intelligence agencies, on the request of a U.S. law enforcement
agency, to collect information on non-U.S. citizens outside the
U.S. for law enforcement or counter-intelligence purposes.
The proposed SASC amendment would (1) limit this authority
to NRO, NSA, and NIMA; (2) preclude direct participation of
military personnel in arrests; (3) prohibit assistance if it
would adversely affect military preparedness; and (4) require
the Secretary of Defense to prescribe such regulations as
necessary to implement this authority and to protect sources
and methods.
Section 716--Appointment and evaluation of officials responsible for
intelligence-related activities
Section 716, as reported by the SSCI, would require the
Secretary of Defense to seek the concurrence of the DCI before
making a recommendation to the President on heads of NRO and
NSA. The SSCI provision would also require the DCI to provide
annual performance evaluations for the heads of NRO and NSA to
the Secretary of Defense.
The proposed SASC amendment would modify the SSCI language
requiring DCI concurrence on appointments to provide that the
Secretary, after seeking concurrence, may make the
recommendation to the President without the DCI's concurrence
if the Secretary notes that the DCI does not concur. This
modification is consistent with the SASC's intention to extend
this recommendation process to the director of NIMA (a matter
to be taken up on the Defense Authorization bill). The
amendment would also strike the SSCI language requiring the DCI
to provide annual performance evaluation. But the committee
intends to include language in the Defense Authorization bill
that would allow for DCI input on performance evaluations for
the directors of NSA, NRO, and NIMA for consideration by the
Secretary of Defense in the preparation of the Secretary's own
performances evaluations of these directors.
Section 717--Intelligence community senior executive service
Section 717, as reported by the SSCI, would establish an
intelligence community Senior Executive Service.
The proposed SASC amendment would strike this provision.
The committee notes that the Department of Defense strongly
opposes the establishment of a DCI-managed Senior Executive
Service that would include a large number of Department of
Defense personnel. The SSCI provision contradicts a proposal
made by the Executive Branch to improve DOD intelligence
civilian personnel management, which the DCI has characterized
as one of his top priorities, and which the Secretary of
Defense strongly supports. The committee is considering options
for including a version of the Executive Branch DOD
intelligence personnel proposal in the Defense Authorization
bill.
Title VIII--National Imagery and Mapping Agency
Title VIII of S. 1718, as reported by the SSCI, establishes
the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) in Title 50,
U.S.C., not as a Combat Support Agency. The Executive Branch
had requested that NIMA be established in Title 10, U.S.C., and
be designated in law as a Combat Support Agency. The SASC-
reported Defense Authorization Bill contains a comprehensive
legislative charter for NIMA, which, with a few minor
exceptions, is consistent with the Executive Branch proposal.
The proposed SASC amendment would strike the SSCI language
regarding NIMA and would substitute language regarding NIMA's
national mission and clarifying the peacetime status of the
DCI's national imagery collection tasking authority. The
proposed SASC amendment would also provide that the Secretary
of Defense and the DCI, in consultation with the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would jointly identify deficiencies
in the capabilities of NIMA to accomplish assigned national
missions and develop policies and programs to review and
correct such deficiencies. The committee expects that
disagreements between the DCI and the Secretary of Defense
relating to the identification of NIMA's deficiencies in
performing its national mission would be settled according to
normal inter-agency procedures, with the President having the
ultimate authority to resolve differences. These provisions
would be included in title 50, U.S.C. The SASC intends to
include identical language in the Defense Authorization bill in
addition to language specifying that the Secretary of Defense
shall implement actions to correct deficiencies jointly
identified by the Secretary and the DCI.
committee action
In accordance with the Legislative Reorganization Act of
1946, as amended by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970,
the committee approved a motion to report favorably S. 1718
with an amendment.
fiscal data
The committee will publish in the Congressional Record
information on five-year cost projections when such information
is received from the Congressional Budget Office.
regulatory impact
Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the
Senate requires that a report on the regulatory impact of a
bill be included in the report on the bill. The committee finds
that there is no regulatory impact in the cost of S. 1718.
changes in existing law
Pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of
the Standing Rules of the Senate, the changes in existing law
made by certain portions of the bill have not been shown in
this section of the report because, in the opinion of the
committee, it is not necessary to dispense with showing such
changes in order to expedite the business of the Senate and
reduce the expenditure of funds.
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