Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

First, I want to begin by thanking Chairman Nunes. It has been a great pleasure to work with him. I greatly appreciate his dedication to the responsibilities that we have, the bipartisan way that he has run this committee, the professional way that he and his staff have conducted all the business of the committee. It has just been an honor to work with him, and I am greatly appreciative of all he has done to bring this bill forward.

I also want to express my gratitude to Senators Burr and Feinstein for their efforts at producing this bipartisan, bicameral work product.

Earlier this year the House passed its version of the Intelligence Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2016. After the Senate's Intelligence Committee advanced its version out of committee, we worked together to produce the bill that is before us today. It is the result of careful negotiations and of a bipartisan and bicameral commitment to produce a strong intelligence bill for the sake of our country and of our allies.

I was not able to vote for the intelligence authorization when it first came before the House in June, but I am proud to support it today. Many of the underlying issues have been resolved or significantly improved. This annual bill, like those that came before it, funds, equips, and sets priorities for the U.S. intelligence community, which is critical in the world that we inhabit today.

The recent Paris attacks drive home just how vigilant we need to be, and the bill before us provides urgent resources for the fight against ISIS and al Qaeda. At the same time, we must never let our focus on any one threat or terror group distract us from the other challenges we face, like those posed by Iran, North Korea, Russia, and China.

This bill strikes the right balance by providing the necessary means to counter other wide-ranging threats from state and nonstate actors, particularly in cyberspace, outer space, and in the undersea environment. The bill also takes critical steps to shore up our counterintelligence capabilities. This is of particular significance after the devastating OPM breach.

Additionally, the intelligence authorization continues to be the single most important means by which Congress conducts oversight of the intelligence community. We much support the IC, but we also have to rigorously oversee it and make sure that what it does in our name comports with our values.

The bill, therefore, prioritizes and provides detailed guidance, strict authorizations, and precise limitations on the activities of the intelligence community. It also fences funds to ensure that throughout the year congressional guidance is strictly followed.

Some of the other highlights of the bill include emphasizing collection to monitor and ensure Iran's compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action--this is critical--funding our most important space programs, investing in space protection and resiliency, preserving investments in cutting-edge technologies, and enhancing oversight of contracting and procurement practices. I am particularly pleased with where the revised bill ends up with respect to our space programs.

Other highlights of the bill are promoting enhancements to our foreign partner capabilities, which are crucial to multiplying the reach and impact of our own intelligence efforts; enhancing human intelligence capabilities, which is often the key to understanding and predicting global events; greatly intensifying oversight of defense special operation forces activities worldwide.

The revised bill also continues to incorporate some of the excellent provisions championed by many of the Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee as well as Republicans, in particular, Mr. Himes' effort to enhance the quality of metrics we use to enable more thorough oversight, Ms. Sewell's provisions to enhance diversity within the intelligence community, Mr. Carson's provisions to better understand FBI resource allocation against domestic and foreign threats and the role of FBI and DNI in countering violent extremism particularly in minors, Ms. Speier's provision to provide greater human rights oversight of the IC's relationships with certain foreign partners, Mr. Quigley's provision regarding intelligence support to Ukraine, and Mr. Swalwell's provision to ensure that Department of Energy's national labs can work with State and local government recipients of Homeland Security grants.

As I said earlier, I was not able to support the prior version of the bill, but I am proud to support this version. I urge my colleagues to do the same. This version corrects the misguided overreliance on short-term overseas contingency operations funding to evade the Budget Control Act caps at the expense of our domestic programs.

The bill still contains unwelcome restrictions, in my view, on the closure of our facility at Guantanamo Bay, but it modifies them to mirror the provisions, which passed in the National Defense Authorization Act and which the President recently signed into law. To the extent there are any intelligence funds which could be used to close the prison, these IAA provisions would subject them to the same restrictions as govern the spending of defense funds in the NDAA.

I remain strongly opposed to any restrictions on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. As these provisions reflect what is currently in law, I support the larger bill. Especially with what happened in Paris, we need to act now to fund and enable our intelligence agencies.

Once again, I want to thank Chairman Nunes, Chairman Burr, and Vice Chairman Feinstein, as well as the wonderful and hardworking staff of the HPSCI and the SSCI. I also want to thank the administration for their good work.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remainder of my time.

The world is a dangerous place, and our intelligence agencies and professionals are on the front lines of keeping us, our allies, and our partners safe. We also have to ensure that no matter how dangerous the world becomes, the United States adheres to its values. What is done to protect America cannot undermine America, and this legislation ensures consistent and rigorous oversight.

To the men and women of our intelligence community, you continue to have my sincerest gratitude and respect for all that you do and my full appreciation of your dedication, your patriotism, and your unparalleled skills.

We in Congress must now do our part by passing this bill, and then we must turn to completing work on cyber legislation and to beginning the urgent task of preparing for the fiscal year 2017 authorization bill.

To Chairman Nunes, Chairman Burr, and Vice Chair Feinstein, thank you again for your leadership, your bipartisanship, and your determination to do what is right.

To all the Members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I thank you for your good work as well.

Finally, thank you to our very superb professional staff. You do a great job each and every day, and often for very, very long hours.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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