Permanent, continuing, day-to-day oversight of the U.S. intelligence community (IC) by the two congressional intelligence committees will soon mark its 40th anniversary. The IC's missions, responsibilities, capabilities, size, and management have experienced dramatic changes over the past four decades. The congressional oversight committees have played a significant role in shaping these changes and continue to do so, particularly through their annual intelligence authorization bills. In recent years the IC has initiated a transformation from the agency-centric practices of the past to an "intelligence enterprise" established on a collaborative foundation of shared services, mission-centric operations, and integrated mission management to confront its ever growing list of challenges. The recently released National Intelligence Strategy 2014 lays out the strategic environment and identifies the scale of what James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), terms the "pervasive and emerging threats": While key nation states such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran will continue to challenge U.S. interests, global power is also becoming more diffuse. New alignments and informal networks, outside of traditional power blocs and national governments, will increasingly have significant impact in global affairs. Competition for scarce resources such as food, water and energy is growing in importance as an intelligence issue as that competition exacerbates instability, and the constant advancements and globalization of technology will bring both benefits and challenges. The challenge for this and future Congresses is to help shape intelligence priorities while a more integrated IC adjusts to new budget realities. Congress has an important role in the oversight of the agencies responsible for dealing with this altered intelligence environment, and the annual authorization process represents one of the most important opportunities to exercise this role. Intelligence authorization legislation does not guarantee effective interagency intelligence efforts, but proponents of the oversight process maintain that authorization acts are the best lever that Congress has to address the interagency effort. The "congressional intelligence committees," as defined in 50 U.S.C. §401a (6) , consist of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). The intelligence committees were created in the 1970s to conduct continuous and "vigilant legislative oversight" over the IC to assure (1) "that the appropriate departments and agencies of the United States provide informed and timely intelligence necessary for the executive and legislative branches to make sound decisions affecting the security and vital interests of the Nation," and (2) "that such activities are in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the United States." They operate behind closed doors, for the most part, overseeing the most secret aspects of the U.S. government. The two intelligence committees are the repositories of most intelligence shared with Congress. Their secure office and hearing room spaces are guarded around the clock by Capitol Hill police. One of the few windows into the activities of the two intelligence committees is their authorization legislation and accompanying committee reports. They produce (but do not always pass) annual legislation that guides the activities of all 17 U.S. intelligence components—providing authorization for critical national security functions. All authorization bills are important resource documents in terms of both money and manpower, and the intelligence bills are particularly important in this regard. (See the Appendix for an IC framework that includes a list of IC components.) Separate and distinct from one another, the authorization and appropriations processes determine budget authority for agencies and programs. The authorization committees establish the necessity, legitimacy, and intent of agencies and programs. In doing so, authorization is an oversight function, communicating general guidance, leadership, and priorities and providing legislation and direction to agencies. Appropriations committees determine funding levels for policies and programs previously authorized. For the most part, the appropriations process provides specific details within the general guidance and limitations given by authorizations. Cutting funds, adding funds, or attaching provisions to funding are powerful ways to influence policy decisions. The funding associated with intelligence is significant. For FY2014 alone, the aggregate amount (base and supplemental) appropriated to the national and military intelligence programs totaled $67.9 billion. The complexity and range of activities the intelligence authorizing committees oversee covers a wide range. According to a recent House Intelligence Committee report, current legislation: provides authorization for critical national security functions, including: CIA personnel and their activities worldwide; tactical intelligence support to combat units in Afghanistan; NSA's [National Security Agency's] electronic surveillance and cyber defense; global monitoring of foreign militaries, weapons tests, and arms control treaties, including use of satellites and radars; real-time analysis and reporting on political and economic events, such as current events in the Middle East and Eastern Europe; and research and technology to maintain the country's technological edge. The authorizing legislation passed by the intelligence committees has particular power with the IC agencies because the respective rules that established the intelligence committees provided that, "no funds would be expended by national intelligence agencies unless such funds shall have been previously authorized by a bill or joint resolution passed by the Senate [and House] during the same or preceding fiscal year to carry out such activity for such fiscal year." In 1985, Section 504 of the National Security Act was tightened to require that appropriated funds available to an intelligence agency could be obligated or expended for an intelligence or intelligence-related activity only if "those funds were specifically authorized by the Congress for use for such activities." If and when intelligence authorization bills fail to pass, the IC relies on language in appropriation bills that both authorizes and appropriates funds, until such time as an authorization bill is passed. In terms of process, each year the House and Senate intelligence committees produce their respective versions of the Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) . Each committee produces an unclassified bill, an unclassified report, and a classified "Schedule of Authorizations" (included within the "Classified Annex," or simply "the Annex") that provide detailed guidance to the nation's intelligence agencies. The Annex contains the schedule of authorization budget numbers as well as committee guidance and requirements that directly pertain to the classified material and cannot be disclosed publicly. Committee reports state that the Schedule of Authorizations "is incorporated by reference in the Act and has the legal status of public law." Both intelligence committees make the Annex available for review by Members of their respective chambers, subject to appropriate disclosure restrictions. Following passage of these bills, a conference committee is usually convened to resolve the various differences between the House and Senate versions. Despite the requirement for both an authorization and matching appropriation, in the years following the 9/11 attacks the intelligence committees have sometimes found it difficult to reconcile philosophical differences over important issues. In some years, IAAs failed to pass one or both chambers before the beginning of the fiscal years they represented, were never passed by one or both chambers, or were vetoed by the President. Table 1 illustrates this difficulty. The table summarizes the legislation associated with the annual intelligence authorization bill over the past 15 years. IAAs for nine fiscal years (2000-2005, 2012-2013, and 2015) were signed by the President three months into the respective fiscal year. Three intelligence bills were never sent to the President for signature (2006, 2007, and 2009) and two were vetoed (2001 and 2008). The IAA for FY2010 was passed in October 2010, a week after FY2010 was over. The IAAs for FY2011 and FY2014 were passed just a few months prior to the end of their respective fiscal years. According to media and academic accounts, and statements by Members in committee reports, the reputations of the intelligence committees suffered during the six-year period when no intelligence bills were passed. The absence of an authorization bill in a particular fiscal year does not mean that ongoing programs cease to be authorized. Authorization bills may enact far-reaching provisions that are essentially timeless—reporting requirements that recur each year until repealed or suspended by another authorization bill. In this case, however, no intelligence legislation was signed into law for six years (December 2004 to October 2010, see Table 1 ). During the years when there were no authorization bills, the appropriation committees had the de facto ability to both authorize and appropriate. In addition, other authorizing committees with intelligence-related oversight responsibilities began reestablishing their prerogatives in regard to IC activities that fell into their areas of jurisdiction. Beginning in 2009, intelligence committee leaders in both parties dedicated themselves to getting intelligence authorization bills passed on an annual basis. The combined efforts of SSCI Chairwoman Feinstein and HPSCI Chairman Rogers have been particularly effective, as were the efforts of HPSCI Chairman Reyes. Table 1 illustrates the fact that there has been an intelligence bill every year since FY2010, although in several cases there have been considerable lag times between the beginning of the fiscal year and bill passage. They have been successful in getting IAAs passed in both chambers and signed by the President for every fiscal year since 2010. The IAA for FY2015 was signed into law on December 19, 2014. Later in this report, Table 2 provides an overview of the intelligence authorization legislation considered in the 113 th Congress, with accompanying reports and the dates of major actions. Table 3 provides a summary of selected provisions from the IAA for FY2015 with comparable provisions in the original H.R. 4681 and S. 2741 . The Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 ( P.L. 113-126 ) was signed into law on July 7, 2014. An IAA for FY2015 ( P.L. 113-293 ) was signed into law on December 19, 2014. Understanding what has happened when in terms of actions for the IAAs for FY2014 and FY2015 is difficult because of sequencing issues and bill titles. Table 2 provides an overview of the intelligence authorization legislation considered in the 113 th Congress, with accompanying reports and the dates of major actions. The following timeline may also be helpful: October 1, 2013: Fiscal Year 2014 began.