Date: 2004-10-09
Speaker: MCCON ELL (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. I said at the beginning of this debate that after reforming the executive branchs intelligence and homeland security agencies. we needed to put our own house in order. We can now say that after years of demanding that other institutions reorganize and improve their performance. we have demanded the same of ourselves. And we succeeded. This is no small achievement for the Senate. the cooling saucer of American politics. We are very averse to change here. We respect history in this institution. But today we avoided making the mistake of falling victim to it. Learning from our mistakes prior to 9/11. we have changed the way we do business. This is a great accomplishment. We recognized the need to reform the way we conduct oversight over themost important issues of our day: intelligence and homeland security. I want to thank my good friend. Senator REID. I have greatly enjoyed working with him. and have marveled at his prodigious talents in resolving particularly contentious conflicts. We have accomplished this difficult task thanks in large part to his honest brokering and commitment to respecting the concerns of each and every Senator. He is fairminded. andhe is effective. I look forward to working with him more often. Let me also take a minute to thank his capable staff. Rich Verma. Gregg Jaczko. and Gary Myrick. who worked on a truly bipartisan basis with my staff. Their expertise on these issues. and their patience with Harry and me. are truly commendable. They deserve.a great deal of credit for managing the Working Group and cobbling together for us. the many suggestions made by our Members. I would also like to thank my staff: Kyle Simmons and Robert Karem. Both of these outstanding gentlemen were with me from the beginning of this process and we would not be at this point without them. I would also like to thank Mike Solo. He jumped right in to masterfully produce this product and also.helped steer it to passage on the floor. Finally. my thanks to John Abegg and Brian Lewis for their counsel and able assistance. I want to thank the members of the Congressional Oversight * Working Group themselves for their many good ideas. and for their patience and willingness to work on a bipartisan basis to do something that is very difficult. but also very worthwhile.. Not every Senator will be happy with the result of the Senate working its will on this resolution. Some Members will -complain this reform goes too far.. Others will complain it does not go far enough. I believe. we have struck an appropriate balance of reform that improves our ability to conduct oversight of intelligence and homeland security during a very. serious time for our country. Octobe. 9. 2004 On intelligence oversight.. .I am pleased the Senate not only accepted our suggested reforms of the Select Committee on Intelligence. but also improved upon them by agreeing to modify the sequential referral of defenserelated intelligence legislation to the Armed Services Committee so the process is more cooperative. The working group wanted to improve the structure of the Committee to allow Members more time to become experts and give them many tools to do their jobs. And we have done that. Let me briefly summarize just a couple of our reforms: Improved and enhanced the Intelligence Committee. Included 9 recommendations of the 9/ 11 Commission. Members now have a stronger Committee. Without term limits. Members can better develop the expertise needed to conduct effective oversight. Clarified jurisdictional lines and improves the coordination of military intelligence matters between the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees. Appropriations jurisdiction over oversight is qurrently dispersed throughout multiple subcommittees. We have created an Intelligence Subcommittee of Appropriations to consolidate the roughly 80percent of the intelligence budget that will come under the jurisdiction of the national intelligence director. This subcommittee will help the Appropriations Committee to live up to its responsibility to exercise oversight over the national intelligence budget. This legislation consolidates widely dispersed appropriations for nonmilitary intelligence under a single Subcommittee. Allows the National Intelligence Director to work with only one Sub-. committee to approve his budget. Improves intelligence oversight by creating two sets of eyes on the budget and activities of the assets under the National Intelligence Director. Jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security was too dispersed. Roughly 25 Congressional Committees or Subcommittees claimed jurisdiction over Homeland Security yesterday. We have cut that number down significantly. The Senate worked its will on this Resolution. and in the end it significantly consolidated jurisdiction over Homeland Security. Some will think the Senate went too far. Others will think the Senate hasnt gone far enough. We introduced a Resolution that dramatically consolidated jurisdiction in the new Committee. In an open process. the Senate worked its will and decided that the overlapping functions of certain agencies required exceptions. While there have been some changes to our proposal. we have not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We have taken great strides towards a level of consolidation many of us would have thought impossible only weeks ago. This reform puts the Homeland Security Committee in charge of those who prepare to defend against terrorist attacks and those who respond to terrorist attacks. This is the most important work the Department does. Protecting the Homeland is the core function of the Department. and the Homeland Security Committee will acquire jurisdiction over the core entities of the Department that do just that. Among other programs. the Homeland Security Committee will acquire jurisdiction over the following Directorates: Office of the SecretaryResponsible for- integration of terrorist threat warning. preparedness. and response. This alone is a huge responsibility. Undersecretary for Information Analysis and Infraqtructure Protection. Undersecretary for Science and TechnologyChemical. Biological. and Nuclear defense research. and Homeland Security technology development. Undersecretary for Emergency Preparedness and ResponseFEMA. National Domestic Preparedness Office. Integrated Hazad Information System. and Domestic Emergency Support Teams. Undersecretary for Management. We have consolidated all of this on top of the existing jurisdiction of the Government Reform Committee. including the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Mr. President. I believe the Senate has accomplished a great deal today. We have strengthened our Intelligence oversight. created a Homeland Security Committee under the new Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. and stood up a new Intelligence Appropriations Subcommittee. I hope our Colleagues will pay attention to the reform we have enacted as they consider their Committee assignments for the 109th Congress. The American people will be better served by these reforms. And the Senate as a whole will benefit from their improved expertise and authorities over these critical policy matters. We have no more important charge than keeping the American peoplesafe. and today we have improved our ability to do just that.