What Are The Top Intelligence Issues For Congress?

Gov’t report reveals the major intelligence issues for the 21st Century.What Are The Top Intelligence Issues For Congress?By Cliff Montgomery – Apr. 20th, 2007On Feb. 27th, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a telling report on the top intelligence issues confronting Congress in the 21st Century. The CRS reports are renowned for their clarity and lack of bias.These unclassified reports are currently released only to members of Congress. Their bosses–the American people–have to search to find them however, as they are not directly released to the public.Below we offer a few quotes from the report:Intelligence Issues for Congress“To address the challenges facing the U.S. Intelligence Community in the 21st century, congressional and executive branch initiatives have sought to improve coordination among the different agencies and to encourage better analysis. In December 2004, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (P.L. 108-458) was signed, providing for a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) with substantial authorities to manage the national intelligence effort. The legislation also established a separate Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.”Making cooperation effective presents substantial leadership and managerial challenges. The needs of intelligence “consumers”–ranging from the White House to cabinet agencies to military commanders–must all be met, using the same systems and personnel. Intelligence collection systems are expensive and some critics suggest there have been elements of waste and unneeded duplication of effort while some intelligence “targets” have been neglected.”The DNI has substantial statutory authorities to address these issues, but the organizational relationships will remain complex, especially for Defense Department agencies. Members of Congress will be seeking to observe the extent to which effective coordination is accomplished.”International terrorism, a major threat facing the United States in the 21st century, presents a difficult analytical challenge. Techniques for acquiring and analyzing information on small groups of plotters differ significantly from those used to evaluate the military capabilities of other countries. U.S. intelligence efforts are complicated by unfilled requirements for foreign language expertise.”Intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction was inaccurate and Members have criticized the performance of the Intelligence Community in regard to current conditions in Iraq and other situations. Improved analysis, while difficult to mandate, remains a key goal. Better human intelligence, it is argued, is also essential.”Intelligence support to military operations continues to be a major responsibility of intelligence agencies. The use of precision guided munitions depends on accurate, real-time targeting data; integrating intelligence data into military operations will require changes in organizational relationships as well as acquiring necessary technologies.”Counterterrorism requires the close coordination of intelligence and law enforcement agencies, but there remain many institutional and procedural issues that complicate cooperation between the two sets of agencies.Most Recent Developments“On February 7th, retired Navy Vice Admiral J. Michael McConnell was confirmed by the Senate as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to succeed John Negroponte who has been appointed Deputy Secretary of State.”There was no intelligence authorization bill for FY2006 and in the 109th Congress the Senate did not give floor consideration to an intelligence authorization bill for FY2007 (S. 3237) although the House passed its version of FY2007 legislation (H.R. 5020) on April 26, 2006.”On January 27, 2007, the Senate Intelligence Committee reported S. 372, described in the accompanying report (S.Rept. 110-2) as nearly identical to S. 3237 in the 109th Congress. The bill would require Senate confirmation of the Deputy Director of the CIA and the heads of three major intelligence agencies within the Defense Department. The House is expected to consider revisiting FY2007 legislation in the near future.”The 9/11 Commission made a number of recommendations about congressional oversight of intelligence including creating a joint Senate-House committee or making a single committee in each chamber responsible for authorizing and appropriating funds for intelligence activities.”Although this recommendation has found little favor, on January 9, 2007, the House adopted H.Res. 35 which established an intelligence panel on its appropriations committee that includes three members of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.”