Findings Of The Chairman Of The Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence Relating To Efficiency And Reform Pursuant To H. Res. 1493

Floor Speech

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* Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1493 and on behalf of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I submit the following findings that identify potential changes in law that help achieve deficit reduction by reducing waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, promoting efficiency and reform of government, and controlling spending within government programs authorized by the Committee.

* On February 26, 2010, the House of Representatives passed H.R 2701, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. This legislation includes a number of changes in law that would help achieve deficit reduction by reducing waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, as well as promote efficiency and reform in government, and control spending within intelligence programs.

* Creation of an Inspector General for the Intelligence Community. The bill would create a statutory and independent inspector general for the Intelligence Community (IC/IG), whose office would have authority to conduct audits and investigations within and across the elements of the Intelligence Community. The ÐIC/IG would be a powerful tool for identifying waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the Intelligence Community.

* Granting access to the General Accounting Office. The bill would require the General Accounting Office be given access to Intelligence Community records and personnel for the purposes of conducting audits and investigation as directed by the congressional intelligence committees. These audits and investigations have proven critical to Congress' ability to identify waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement throughout the federal government; this provision will bring the same level of congressional oversight to the Intelligence Community.

* Review of covert action programs by Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency. The bill would require that the CIA/JIG conduct audits of each covert action program at least once every three years, which would ensure that these critical and sometimes costly programs receive an appropriate level of scrutiny.

* Improvements to congressional oversight. The bill would enhance congressional oversight over the Intelligence Community in a number of ways, which would better enable Congress to help reduce the deficit by promoting efficiency, controlling spending, and reducing waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. These include:

* Reform to congressional reporting on covert actions. The bill would make a number of improvements to the process through which the Intelligence Community informs Congress regarding certain sensitive covert actions, including a requirement that all notifications to the Gang of 8 (the Speaker of the House, House Minority Leader, Senate Majority and Minority Leader, and the Chair and Ranking Member of the two Intelligence Committees) be provided in writing; and that all members of the congressional intelligence committees be provided with ``general information'' regarding a notification to the Gang of 8. The bill also defines the specific terms that would necessitate congressional notification.

* Certification of compliance with oversight requirements. The bill would require the head of each element of the Intelligence Community to certify semi-annually that the element has notified Congress of all significant and significant anticipated intelligence activities, as required by law.

* Cybersecurity oversight. The bill would require notification to Congress of all new and existing cybersecurity programs, giving Congress better visibility into this evolving and resource-intensive mission.

* Security clearance reform. The bill would require extensive reporting to Congress, including a comprehensive quadrennial audit, regarding the processes used by the federal government to provide security clearances. It would also create an ombudsman responsible for addressing complaints regarding the security clearance system. Committee hearings and other investigations have identified numerous inefficiencies in the security clearance systems, which these reforms will help to address.

* Reform and oversight of personnel policies. The bill includes a number of provisions intended to help control the growth of personnel and other administrative costs within the Intelligence Community. These include:

* Caps on personnel levels at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The bill would limit the number of personnel at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which has increased substantially since the ODNI was created.

* Annual personnel level assessments. The bill would require that the Intelligence Community conduct a comprehensive review of all personnel, both federal employees and contractors across all agencies, which would assist the Intelligence Community and Congress in identifying redundancies, excessive growth, and other inefficiencies.

* Report on intelligence community contractors. The bill would require a comprehensive report on the use of personal services contractors within the Intelligence Community, the impact of these contractors on personnel management systems, plans to convert positions from contractor to federal employee, and accountability methods. The use of contractors in the Intelligence Community has increased substantially over the past ten years, at considerable cost to the taxpayer.

* This report will enable Congress to identify contractor mismanagement and to monitor the implementation of responsible and cost-effective policies regarding contractors across the Intelligence Community.

* Reports and plans. The bill includes provisions to require reports or plans on various subjects, which will assist Congress and the Intelligence Community in determining ways to achieve a variety of missions more efficiently and effectively without waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement. These include:

* Report on intelligence resources dedicated to Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would require a report summarizing the intelligence resources dedicated to Operation New Dawn (formerly Operation Iraqi Freedom) and Operation Enduring Freedom, so that Congress can ensure that they are used in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

* Report on transformation of the intelligence capabilities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has undertaken significant internal restructuring to better enable it to collect intelligence on potential terrorists, among other threats. The bill requires a comprehensive assessment of this effort, which would allow Congress and the FBI determine whether further changes are necessary and/or cost-effective.

* Intelligence community financial improvement and audit readiness. The bill requires that each element of the Intelligence Community produce a plan for achieving full, unqualified audits by September 30, 2013, which is an integral step toward implementation of sound financial management practices at these agencies.

* Inspector General report on over-classification. The bill requires that the IC/IG conduct an analysis of the over-classification of national security information and recommend ways to resolve the problem. Over-classification can inhibit the sharing of intelligence, which can lead to redundancy and waste.

* Report on information sharing practices of joint terrorism task force. The bill requires a report on the information sharing practices of the FBI-New York Police Department Joint Terrorism Task Force to help identify ways in which combining federal, state, and local resources can result in a more efficient use of those resources.

* Plan to implement recommendations of the data center energy efficiency reports. The bill requires that the Director of National Intelligence prepare a plan to comply with a report regarding the use of energy efficient data centers, which would help the Intelligence Community reduce its energy costs.

* Repeal of certain reporting requirements. The bill would reduce the resources expended across the Intelligence Community on preparing reports that are redundant or obsolete.

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