Media Stakeout Following Closed Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing
Federal News Service
HEADLINE: MEDIA STAKEOUT WITH SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME) AND SENATOR JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D-CT) FOLLOWING CLOSED SENATE GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE HEARING
SUBJECT: REORGANIZING THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY
LOCATION: SENATE CRYPT, THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D.C.
BODY:
SEN. COLLINS: Good afternoon.
We've just completed the fifth hearing in a series of hearings of the Governmental Affairs Committee to review the recommendations of the 9/11 commission in preparation for drafting legislation and reporting it to the full Senate by October 1st. This hearing focused on the issue of budget authority for the national intelligence director that has been proposed by the commission, and also the role of the national counterterrorism center in operational planning.
As a result of the hearing today, my support for providing significant budget authority for the new national intelligence director has been strengthened, but it is evident that the current system is very murky as far as the responsibility for the Department of Defense versus the CIA in preparing the intelligence community funding. It's important as we draft legislation that we clarify that issue.
My other impression from today is how much progress has been made since the attacks of 9/11. We heard from representatives of the FBI, the CIA and the Department of Defense, and it's clear that they're working together as never before in their counterterrorism efforts. That doesn't mean that there aren't further reforms, such as those suggested by the 9/11 commission, that are needed; there clearly are. But I was very impressed with what we heard today.
Senator Lieberman.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: I thank Chairman Collins, particularly for the nonpartisan way in which we have been going at fulfilling the responsibilities that Senator Frist and Senator Daschle have given us, to present a bill to the Senate by the end of September. We've set a pace here in August which has been picked up by other committees that I am confident will enable us to beat the deadline that the leadership has given us to give a bill to the Senate which will reform our national intelligence community prior to October 1st, and then therefore give us the opportunity to consider and adopt it prior to departing before the election.
I do want to say, just to echo what Senator Collins just said, this was a very important hearing, and the first part of it focused on what I think will be the most critical question that we will have to ask, which is are we going to respond to the 9/11 commission's conclusion that no one is in charge of the American intelligence community today and we've got to do something about it?
And the something we've got to do about it is not just to create a national intelligence director in name; we've got to give that person authority. And authority begins with control of the money.
And I had the same reaction-we didn't consult-listening to the representatives of the DOD and the CIA today: that there's a real lack of clarity, when it comes to budget matters, about who's in charge. And one thing we will not allow to continue is that lack of clarity, because when there is lack of clarity, there is lack of authority and accountability, and ultimately our national security suffers.
Second point: Just to echo briefly, talking about the national counterterrorism center proposed by the 9/11 commission-representatives from the CIA, the FBI and the Department of Defense-they are doing more together than they did prior to September 11th. Unfortunately, the fact that they didn't work more together before contributed to September 11th.
But we want to make that permanent in statute, and I think they helped us find a way to do that today. We're making progress.
SEN. COLLINS: Yes?
Q Senator, Dr. Cambone has been saying that the Pentagon controls much of the intelligence budget because they use most of the intelligence information. Did you get any assurances from today that they're prepared to give some of that up, in the name of better cooperation?
SEN. COLLINS: (Chuckles.)
SEN. LIEBERMAN: You want me to --
SEN. COLLINS: I don't think the department is ever eager to give up authority. However, the administration has made its position clear that it does support a new national intelligence director and a counterterrorism center. And Dr. Cambone endorsed both of those positions today.
What I was surprised to learn, however, is how much of a role the Department of Defense is currently playing in formulating the intelligence budget, despite the clear statutory authority that gives that responsibility to the director of the CIA.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Yeah. I'd say real briefly that I thought that Dr. Cambone and Secretary Rumsfeld last week before the Armed Services Committee expressed the willingness to yield part of their authority but not a lot of it.
But the good news here is that the president is obviously considering and has not made up his mind about what authority he wants to give to the national intelligence director. And that ultimately will determine what happens here.
I again thought that a strong case was made-I agree with Senator Collins on this-that if you're going to create a national intelligence director, it can't be phony. It can't be cosmetic. It's got to be real. And the way to make it real in this town is with budget authority.
SEN. COLLINS: Ken?
Q What's your committee's strategy for dealing with all the various legislation-suggestions that are coming from all the other committees? Senator Roberts with his Republican allies have come up with their own plan. Senator Warner yesterday said he wants to offer up legislation. How is your committee still going to maintain that bipartisan, non-turf-war model when everybody else seems to be getting ready to start their own turf wars, basically?
SEN. COLLINS: Well, that is something that both Senator Lieberman and I are very committed to, and that is, drafting a bipartisan bill. We welcome the input from Senator Roberts, from Senator Rockefeller and others who have some ideas in this area. In fact, one of the first things we did when we were assigned this responsibility is to write to the chairmen and ranking Democrats on all of the committees that had a stake in this and ask them for their advice.
At the end, we will draft the bill that we think does the job, but I have no doubt that we will draw from some of the suggestions that have been provided to us. In addition to Senator Roberts, Senator Feinstein has sent us her thoughts, Congresswoman Jane Harman from the House side has sent us her bill, and it's very helpful to have all of that input. But at the end of the day, we'll sit down and together draft a bipartisan bill.
Q (Off mike) -- from the leadership is that your committee will be the one to draw up the legislation --
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Yeah --
Q-for the NID and the counterterrorism --
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Look. I agree with Senator Collins. We welcome the suggestion of other senators, Senator Roberts, Senator Warner and Senator Feinstein and others, but ultimately I think Senator Frist and Senator Daschle knew that in this moment of crisis, with the indictment that the 9/11 commission has laid down, you can't just let this happen all over; you got to organize the process to produce a result. And we have that responsibility, to produce the legislation.
Obviously, I mean, it probably would not only be surprising, but would be wrong, if everybody agreed. We're talking about fundamental change that will move authority and affect people's turf, and therefore there's going to be disagreement about it. But our responsibility, and we're committed to it, is to going at this in a bipartisan way, reporting a bill out to the Senate. It will be fought out on the floor. But let's get to it and get it done.
Q Senators, you're both -- (off mike). How is that going to work with your committee -- (off mike)? I'm not really sure of the -- (off mike).
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Well, there's a lot of confusion about that, but not with Senator Frist and Senator Daschle.
They understand and we understand -- (chuckles) -- that the responsibility of the Governmental Affairs Committee is to produce legislation that will implement to the best of our ability the recommendations of the 9/11 commission regarding the executive branch of government. That's most of their report.
The 22-member Senate task force or working group is exclusively focused on the 9/11 commission's recommendations about the organization of Congress itself. Arguably we have received the easier assignment here --
SEN. COLLINS: (Laughs.)
SEN. LIEBERMAN: -- but that's the distinction.
SEN. COLLINS: I would also argue that we're on a faster track than that task force. We've held five hearings. We have additional hearings scheduled. We have a firm date by which we're going to report a bill. And to my knowledge, since we're both members, the task force looking at the reform of Congress has not yet met.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: That's right.
Q Do you know when they will meet?
SEN. COLLINS: I don't know.
SEN. LIEBERMAN: Yeah, I think it's-we're operating in a sense of crisis. I mean, the nation is under a terrorist threat that's raised today, so we want to organize to the best of our ability our defense against that attack. On the question of the organization of congressional oversight, frankly, I'd be surprised if that happens before the organization of the next Congress, beginning in January.
SEN. COLLINS: He's correct.
Q That's actually the last question. Thanks for having us here.
Q Thank you both.
SEN. COLLINS: Thank you. Thanks.
Q Thank you.
SEN. COLLINS: Thank you.