Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chairman, I offer this bipartisan amendment with the support of Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul and Representatives KATKO and LOUDERMILK to help Congress identify ways to improve intelligence sharing on the flow of foreign fighters around the world--with particular attention to their travel to and from Iraq and Syria.

Already, this legislation that we are considering today makes substantial strides in ensuring that intelligence surrounding the flow of foreign fighters is shared with Congress. These continuous reports will shed light on the total number of attempted and successful fighters since the beginning of 2011.

My amendment would require the Director of National Intelligence to report to Congress on the intelligence community's progress in forging information-sharing agreements with foreign partners and help Congress identify the challenges impeding coordinated intelligence efforts.

Over 20,000 foreign fighters have traveled to join rebel and terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, including ISIS and al Qaeda affiliates like al-Nusrah. Their movements are proving increasingly difficult to track in our globalized world, particularly given the uneven or nonexistent tracking efforts from some of our foreign partners.

As the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade and as a member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, I have engaged on the issue of intelligence sharing from two perspectives--from our efforts to improve the intelligence community's coordination with State, local, and other Federal agencies and from our work to better improve our information-sharing practices with our overseas allies to prevent terrorist attacks and the flow of foreign fighters here at home.

While the intelligence community has made improvements to the processes of sharing pertinent information with the relevant Federal, State, and local agencies, there still exists a blind spot in our intelligence-gathering efforts on foreign fighters. That blind spot stems from the failure of some foreign governments to take commonsense information-sharing steps, and it has made the task of tracking foreign fighters even more challenging.

The inability or unwillingness of some foreign governments to pass along even the most basic information about these individuals represents a major risk to the safety of the American people.

An additional threat looms when some of these individuals return to their homelands from Iraq and Syria, battle-hardened and radicalized. Once back home, some can travel between international borders with relative ease, which makes tracking them a truly difficult feat.

This amendment will also provide insight into our current intelligence-sharing relationships and will give Congress the opportunity to highlight best practices while also revealing areas for improvement.

I thank Chairman Nunes and Ranking Member Schiff for their cooperation.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul).

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Mr. KEATING. Mr. Chairman, the recent events involving the plan of radicalized individuals in Massachusetts to target law enforcement officials--police, in particular--underscore the truth that protecting America will require the efforts of local, State, and Federal law enforcement.

Since the Boston Marathon bombings, the FBI has made great efforts to improve their information-sharing efforts with the Joint Terrorism Task Force and other Federal agencies.

With my work and the work of my colleagues on the congressional investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings through the Homeland Security Committee, I can attest to the seriousness in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation has set out to improve their information-sharing practices.

However, the FBI's efforts to institutionalize sharing across law enforcement and intelligence are still a work in progress.

The current version of this bill eliminates the requirement for the FBI to report to Congress on their progress to implement information-sharing principles. This is a reporting requirement that has kept Congress aware of the FBI's information-sharing practices since 2004, and it has been vital to understand what works and what can be improved.

This amendment will reinstate that requirement, with the recognition that the FBI has more work to do on information sharing to better protect the American public.

These necessary reforms include re-executing FBI current memorandums of understanding with local partners, improving training and accessibility for the eGuardian platform, and formalizing methods for disseminating intelligence to relevant consumers up- and downstream.

Without information on the progress the FBI is making in these reforms, Congress is hindered in taking the critical steps needed to protect the American public.

I would like to again thank Chairman Nunes and Ranking Member Schiff.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).

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