Date: 2014-05-30
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chair. let me again thank the ranking member and the chairman. Let me also acknowledge the very fine men and women that work in our intelligence community in the United States and around the world. I would like to thank the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for their efforts to include the Jackson Lee amendment in the en bloc amendments and thank them for working with my staff in a very cooperative manner. The Jackson Lee amendment seeks greater transparency to Congress on the people the Nation relies upon to perform certain types of work for the intelligence community. The Jackson Lee amendment requires the Director of the Office of National Intelligence to conduct an assessment of the reliance of intelligence activities on contractors to support government objectives. including an assessment of contractors performing intelligence activities. which would include intelligence analysis. This complements the underlying bill. because the underlying bill has determined to assess the utilization and reduce the number of private contractors. In a Time article dated Monday. July 19. 2010. a comment says: Explosion of contractors in the intelligence community. And that has been the case. It is important that we recognize that contractors can be useful. But like the President stated publicly on August 26. 2013: It is important that we have so many extraordinarily capable folks in our military and our government who can do thisand probably do it cheaper. Well. I agree with the President and this committee. I also take note of an article that cites NSA contractors using LinkedIn profiles to cash in on national security. I believe that with the work that we are doing here in this legislation. along with my amendment. we will get our hands around the idea of outsourcing our intelligence work and develop a pathway of excellence. as we have in the past. We will utilize our veterans. we will utilize military personnel. we will utilize young persons who are interested in this as a career. and we will have the finest intelligence staffing that we have ever had. as we have had in the past. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. I again thank the chairman and ranking member for including this in the en bloc amendments. I think we are on a pathway of greater success in securing this Nation. Mr. Chair. I support H.R. 4681. the "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2014." a bill Authorizing appropriations for our nations intelligence agencies for Fiscal Year 2014 through Fiscal Year 2015. The bill provides funds for the conduct of intelligence and intelligencerelated activities. My thanks to the House Rules Committee for making my amendment in order under the rule for H.R. 4681. I appreciate the work of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence efforts to include the Jackson Lee Amendment in the En Bloc. My amendment is simple and makes an important contribution to the bill. The Jackson Lee Amendment seeks greater transparency to Congress on the people the nation relies upon to perform certain types of work for the Intelligence Community. The Jackson Lee Amendment requires the Director of the Office of National Intelligence to conduct an assessment of the reliance of intelligence activities on contractors to support Government objectives. including an assessment of contractors performing intelligence activities. which would include intelligence analysis. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) 2013 Report on Security Clearance Determinations said that on October 1. 2013. the total number of persons with a Confidential. Secret or Top Secrete security clearance totaled 5.150.379 individual. According to the ODNI 3.738.026 were government agency personnel. 1.056.309 were contractors and 356.044 were categorized as other. Between January and October 1. 2013 there were 777.168 security clearances approved152.490 were government agency employees and 131.209 were contractors with an additional 12.785 designated as other. The cost of government security classification in 2oo5 was $7.66 billion and in 2011 the total was $11.36 billion. The amount expended included: 5.65 billion for protection maintenance. 1.53 billion for security management oversight and planning. 502.51 million for professional education. training and awareness. 352.4 million for classification management. 52.76 million for declassification. The assessment provided for through the Jackson Lee amendment would shed light on the work that our federal agency Intelligence professionals and the role contractors play in protecting our nation. President Obama stated publicly on August 6. 2013 that it is important that we have so many extraordinarily capable folks in our military and our government who can do this. and probably do it cheaper. I agree. That is why I introduced H.R. 4110. the HERO Transition from Battlespace to Workplace Act of 2014. This legislation addresses the problem of underemployed veterans in obtaining positions that take maximum advantage of their skills and experience. For some time I have worked to make sure that transparency. accountability and oversight were firmly established to guide the work of intelligence agencies. including introducing legislation such as H.R. 2434. I thank my colleagues on the Intelligence Committee for their hard work in bringing this bill before the full House for consideration. I ask my Colleagues in the House to vote for this en bloc. [From Time. Jul. 19. 2010]