BOND COMMENTS ON TODAY’S INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE MARKUP Senator to Offer Accountability Language, Urges Colleagues to Avoid Politics
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May 17, 2007
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Kit Bond, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee issued the following statement prior to this afternoon’s markup of the fiscal year 2008 Intelligence Reauthorization bill.
“Our draft bill has a number of good government reforms that I believe will strengthen the effectiveness of the Intelligence Community. In addition to the provisions that are now in the bill, I also intend to offer a few important and substantive amendments.
“For example, one of the unclassified amendments I will offer, cosponsored by Senator Hatch, empowers the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to conduct accountability reviews of the individual elements of the Intelligence Community in relation to significant failures or deficiencies. The DNI currently does not have this authority.
“Many of us in the Senate have been disappointed by the lack of accountability in the Intelligence Community. Take, for example, the CIA’s refusal to conduct accountability review boards as recommended by the CIA Inspector General in his 9/11 Accountability report. This amendment is an attempt to address this serious problem.
“Senator Rockefeller and I were able to keep the draft bill that we are taking into today’s Committee markup fairly clean in terms of politically-charged amendments. If we can keep it that way, I am optimistic that we will get the bill passed and get the Committee back on track passing an authorization bill every year.
“It is my hope that my colleagues will resist any temptations today, as well as in subsequent floor action, to load the bill up with any unnecessarily political amendments that will hamper our ability to get it passed into law.
“We must do a better job of asserting Congressional oversight of the Intelligence Community – one of the best ways to accomplish that goal is to pass our annual intelligence authorization bill. I hope we can all stay focused on that important goal.”
“Our draft bill has a number of good government reforms that I believe will strengthen the effectiveness of the Intelligence Community. In addition to the provisions that are now in the bill, I also intend to offer a few important and substantive amendments.
“For example, one of the unclassified amendments I will offer, cosponsored by Senator Hatch, empowers the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to conduct accountability reviews of the individual elements of the Intelligence Community in relation to significant failures or deficiencies. The DNI currently does not have this authority.
“Many of us in the Senate have been disappointed by the lack of accountability in the Intelligence Community. Take, for example, the CIA’s refusal to conduct accountability review boards as recommended by the CIA Inspector General in his 9/11 Accountability report. This amendment is an attempt to address this serious problem.
“Senator Rockefeller and I were able to keep the draft bill that we are taking into today’s Committee markup fairly clean in terms of politically-charged amendments. If we can keep it that way, I am optimistic that we will get the bill passed and get the Committee back on track passing an authorization bill every year.
“It is my hope that my colleagues will resist any temptations today, as well as in subsequent floor action, to load the bill up with any unnecessarily political amendments that will hamper our ability to get it passed into law.
“We must do a better job of asserting Congressional oversight of the Intelligence Community – one of the best ways to accomplish that goal is to pass our annual intelligence authorization bill. I hope we can all stay focused on that important goal.”