Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I also thank the chairman and the ranking member for making sure that we're able to work together to produce a document that will benefit the entire country in regard to our national security, and I rise in strong support of this year's Intelligence authorization bill.

As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Human Intelligence, Analysis, and Counterintelligence, I'm pleased that we're able to put this product forward, and I strongly support the bill's emphasis on developing stronger counterintelligence capabilities throughout the intelligence community.

Every time I travel overseas to observe operating conditions, I've been impressed by the work being done by our intelligence personnel, but also concerned about the increasing threats and challenges that we face. Today, our intelligence officers are facing increasingly hostile foreign intelligence services, insurgent groups, terrorists organizations, industrial spies, and the threat of cyberattacks. Many of our adversaries are working together in ways we haven't seen before. This is no longer the Cold War world with little cameras and secret compartments. It's now more complicated to find out how our enemies are getting intelligence on the United States and how these same enemies are protecting their own secrets.

To address this threat, this bill provides additional resources to enable our intelligence community to collect better information and provide better analysis on how our adversaries are working against us.

Second, since the emergence of the Arab Spring, our subcommittee has been examining how the intelligence community has been identifying the types of trends that have literally transformed countries overnight, countries like Tunisia and Egypt.

I've heard firsthand from our intelligence personnel that they need more to better get a handle on the dynamics in their countries and their regions. The Arab Spring phenomenon can happen anywhere anytime, and our intelligence community must be better prepared the next time. This bill enables the intelligence community to rebuild its global mission by realigning and adding to its current resources dedicated to this collection effort. With these resources, intelligence personnel will have more tools to identify and report signs of instability in real-time.

This bill also includes a number of other provisions that I believe are important to our national security. The bill requires the Director of National Intelligence to continue compiling threat assessment of foreign drug traffickers that are turning our public lands in the United States into hostile areas to further their operations. This threat assessment was first required in last year's authorization; and given the scope of the problem, it's essential that our efforts to combat foreign drug traffickers on our Federal property be continued.

Also, the bill restores funding for the National Gang Intelligence Center. The analysis that the NGIC has provided on the growing gang influence in the U.S. military, for example, is critical to finding an adequate solution to this problem and the very reason Congress created the NGIC in the first place. It's important that this work continue.

I am a little disappointed that we weren't able to do some things that we all believe are necessary. For example, the expansion of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math cooperative programs at colleges and universities is extremely important; and I think we need to continue to do more to make sure that we're able to grow that resource.

Mr. Chairman, our intelligence community must be prepared for any and all threats. While Osama bin Laden may no longer pose a direct threat to our country's safety and security, the remaining elements of al Qaeda and other emerging terrorist organizations are more determined than ever. It's critical for Congress to pass this bill, and I strongly support that we do so today.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THOMPSON of California. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

My amendment will help small businesses that have the proper security clearances to better navigate the intelligence community's contracting process, and will ensure that they get a fair shot at business opportunities should these companies have the technical expertise and capabilities needed. This change will be good for small businesses and will strengthen our national security.

Second- and third-tier contractors produce highly specialized technology for the intelligence community, but work directly for larger companies. These small businesses have extraordinary talent and expertise, but often find themselves excluded from many business opportunities with the larger intelligence community because, for example, they lack access to the classified databases where these opportunities are presented. Sometimes that access is as simple as a computer connection for cleared experts to review contracting opportunities.

By limiting small businesses that have the appropriate security clearances from these contracting opportunities, we all lose. The intelligence community loses access to the best technical solutions by limiting who is able to fulfill or to even bid for those contracts. Small businesses lose the opportunity to display their expertise and to expand their companies. As important, the taxpayer loses by virtue of a lack of market competition and is given no assurance that the government is getting the best price for its classified contract requirements.

My amendment addresses this problem by requiring an assessment of the IC's current contracting practices and a review of these practices to determine if they present unfair barriers to competition for small businesses. In particular, my amendment requires the Director of National Intelligence to report to Congress how the intelligence community is currently working with second- and third-tier contractors and to identify any problems that may reduce the overall effectiveness of this contracting process. In this report, the DNI will be required to offer recommendations to improve the methods by which second- and third-tier contractors are granted security clearances and notified of classified contracting opportunities.

Mr. Chairman, second- and third-tier contractors who support the technical efforts of the intelligence community are an underutilized asset. These same second-and third-tier contractors are also small businesses that many of our communities depend upon for jobs and for the economies in their local areas. My amendment ensures that the intelligence community is getting access to the best available technology while ensuring that small businesses around the country have a fair shot at expanding their companies.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source