Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years and 2020
Floor Speech
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Mr. HECK. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chair of the committee for yielding.
Mr. Chair, I rise to strongly support the David Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act.
In the last year we have made some pretty incredible progress in reducing the security clearance backlog, yet, frankly, after all the progress we have made, we are still--and you are hearing this number correctly--left with nearly a half a million people on the waiting list for security clearance.
Earlier this year, the average wait time for top secret security clearance was reduced to 468 days, down from 534 days.
So, in other words, when we are out there competing for young talent to come in and be a member of the intelligence community, say in a field such as cyber, we are told we have to tell them, ``Cool your jets. We will get back to you in a year, year and a half or so.''
Indeed, closer to home, my senior military adviser is a distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served not one, but two tours in Afghanistan, where he had a security clearance, and yet when he joined a staff in the House of Representatives, to again earn a security clearance, it took 20 months, nearly 2 years.
We are losing good people when we subject them to that long of a wait time.
This bill makes some progress. It will build on the progress we made this year by providing needed reform to this mission. It creates a system of accountability and clear goals for how the process should run.
Furthermore, the bill allows for innovation on using digital tools, and reciprocity among agencies to improve our efficiencies when clearances are needed to be transferred from one agency to another.
Our government can and must efficiently and effectively review security clearance applicants. We owe our national security workforce at least that much. This bill will help us to do that, to further reduce it, so that the intelligence community can compete for the best and the brightest in a timely fashion.
Mr. Chair, for that reason, among many, I urge Members' support for the Intelligence Authorization Act.
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Mr. HECK. Madam Chair, I was standing when he was recognized. The gentleman from Ohio did not yield to him.
He was not legitimately recognized.
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Mr. HECK. He asked for time in opposition but did not state that he was not opposed.
He was not legitimately recognized.
The offerer of the amendment did not yield to him. The gentleman from South Carolina claimed time in opposition but did not say ``although I am not opposed.'' He supported the amendment.
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Mr. HECK. Madam Chair, I thank very much the graciousness of the gentleman from Ohio, although I think his amendment is wrongheaded.
Here is what is real:
Climate change is real, number one.
Number two, it has significant national security implications.
Number three, the only smart thing to do is to borrow the old motto from the Boy Scouts, ``Be prepared.'' Passage of this amendment, which would remove the Climate Security Advisory Council, renders us less prepared.
We all know that the intelligence community and the DOD have, time and again, assessed the measurable effects of climate change--rising sea levels, higher temperatures, more frequent extreme weather events, new stressors on natural resources and agriculture--have tangible impacts that exacerbate economic distress, human insecurity, political instability, and other humanitarian conditions detrimental to our national security.
The smart thing to do is to be prepared, to have the advisory council that can work across the intelligence community, that can collect the information, coordinate the information, so that we know what is coming, we know what we are being presented with, and we can confront it in a smart way.
Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to please defeat this amendment and pass the underlying bill.
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