Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 Objection
Floor Speech
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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, this afternoon the House of Representatives passed a new version of the Intelligence authorization bill for fiscal year 2016. I am concerned that section 305 of this bill would undermine independent oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies, and if this language remains in the bill, I will oppose any request to pass it by unanimous consent.
Section 305 would limit the authority of the watchdog body known as the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. In my judgment, curtailing the authority of an independent oversight body like this board would be a clearly unwise decision. Most Americans whom I talk to want intelligence agencies to work to protect them from foreign threats, and they also want those agencies to be subject to strong, independent oversight, and this provision would undermine some of that oversight.
Section 305 states that the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board shall not have the authority to investigate any covert action program. This is problematic for two reasons. First, while this board's oversight activities to date have not focused on covert action, it is reasonably easy to envision a covert action program that could have a significant impact on Americans' privacy and civil liberties--for example, if it included a significant surveillance component.
An even bigger concern is that the CIA, in particular, could attempt to take advantage of this language and could refuse to cooperate with investigations of its surveillance activities by arguing that those activities were somehow connected to a covert action program. I recognize that this may not be the intent of this provision, but in my 15 years on the Intelligence Committee, I have repeatedly seen senior CIA officials go to striking lengths to resist external oversight of their activities. In my judgment, Congress should be making it harder, not easier, for intelligence officials to stymie independent oversight.
For these reasons, it is my intention to object to any unanimous consent request to pass this bill in its current form. I look forward to working with my colleagues to modify or remove this provision.
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