Congressional Oversight of Intelligence:
Current Structure and Alternatives

Frederick M. Kaiser
Specialist in American National Government
January 25, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RL32525
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress

Congressional Oversight of Intelligence: Current Structure and Alternatives

Summary
Interest in congressional oversight of intelligence has risen again recently in Congresses, in part
because of disputes over reporting to Congress by Intelligence Community (IC) components on
sensitive matters, including developments generated by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
changes in the oversight structure proposed by the 111th Congress, however, reflect long-term
concerns and considerations. For instance, the House Democratic majority had pledged in the
110th Congress to enact the remaining recommendations from the U.S. National Commission on
Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, commonly known as the 9/11 Commission, which
called for a transformation of Congress’s oversight structure. The commission’s unanimous report
in 2004, covering many issues, set the stage for reconsideration of the problems affecting
Congress’s structure in this area. The panel concluded that congressional oversight of intelligence
was “dysfunctional” and proposed two distinct solutions. These were (1) creation of a joint
committee on intelligence (JCI), modeled after the defunct Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
(JCAE), with authority to report legislation to each chamber; or (2) enhanced status and power for
the existing select committees on intelligence, by making them standing committees and granting
both authorization and appropriations power.
Proposals to create a joint committee on intelligence date to 1948 and the early years of the Cold
War, when the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) were
established. Similar recommendations have emerged in the meantime, although the lion’s share
were made before separate Intelligence Committees were established in the House (1977) and
Senate (1976). The numerous proposals for a JCI, which would end the two existing intelligence
panels, moreover, vary in their specifics and raise competing viewpoints over practical matters
and matters of principle.
Although it did not adopt either of the 9/11 Commission proposals, Congress has pursued other
initiatives to change its intelligence oversight structure and capabilities in the 110th and 111th
Congresses. The House altered its arrangements in 2007 (via H.Res. 35, 110th Congress), when it
created an advisory Select Intelligence Oversight Panel on the Appropriations Committee, a
hybrid structure that combines members of the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence and the Committee on Appropriations. The Senate has also changed its relationship
between appropriations and intelligence. Other proposals have been considered, either in the 111th
Congress or before. These include clarifying the independent audit authority of the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) over the intelligence community, particularly the CIA; placing the
CIA expressly under the Government Performance and Results Act; increasing the coordinative
capabilities and reporting of relevant inspectors general (IGs); and adding a new statutory IG
covering the entire intelligence community and others for certain Defense Department entities.
This report first describes the current Select Committees on Intelligence and then the former Joint
Committee on Atomic Energy, often cited as a model for a counterpart on intelligence. The study
also sets forth proposed characteristics for a joint committee on intelligence, differences among
these, and their pros and cons. The report, to be updated as events dictate, examines other actions
and alternatives affecting congressional oversight in the field.

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Congressional Oversight of Intelligence: Current Structure and Alternatives

Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1
House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence .................................................................. 3
Jurisdiction and Authority .....................................................................................................3
Membership and Leadership ................................................................................................. 4
Secrecy Controls ................................................................................................................... 4
Joint Committee on Atomic Energy as a Model ........................................................................... 5
Proposed Joint Committee on Intelligence Characteristics ........................................................... 6
Methods of Establishment ..................................................................................................... 6
Jurisdiction and Authority .....................................................................................................7
Membership.......................................................................................................................... 7
Terms and Rotation ............................................................................................................... 7
Leadership ............................................................................................................................ 8
Secrecy Controls ................................................................................................................... 8
Staffing ................................................................................................................................. 8
Budget and Funding .............................................................................................................. 9
Pros and Cons ....................................................................................................................... 9
Pros ................................................................................................................................ 9
Cons ............................................................................................................................. 11
Alternatives to a Joint Committee.............................................................................................. 13
Changing the Select Committees’ Structure and Powers ...................................................... 13
Senate Action................................................................................................................ 14
House Action ................................................................................................................ 16
Concerns about Restructuring the Intelligence Committees ........................................... 17
Improving Coordination Between the Two Intelligence Panels ............................................ 18
Joint Hearings ............................................................................................................... 18
Leadership Meetings ..................................................................................................... 19
Constraints on Coordination.......................................................................................... 19
Enhancing Interchanges with Other Panels and Members .................................................... 19
Goals ............................................................................................................................ 20
Techniques.................................................................................................................... 20
Limitations.................................................................................................................... 21
Other Options ..................................................................................................................... 21
Using Congressional Support Agencies ......................................................................... 21
Applying GPRA Requirements to the CIA..................................................................... 23
Enhancing the Inspectors General ................................................................................. 24
Observations on Oversight of Intelligence ................................................................................. 25
Obstacles to Oversight ........................................................................................................ 25
Secrecy Constraints....................................................................................................... 25
Perceived Limited Appeal of Intelligence Oversight ...................................................... 26
Overcoming the Obstacles................................................................................................... 26
Objectives and Goals .................................................................................................... 26
A Joint Committee on Intelligence and Alternatives....................................................... 26
Other Proposals............................................................................................................. 27

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Congressional Oversight of Intelligence: Current Structure and Alternatives

Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 27

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Congressional Oversight of Intelligence: Current Structure and Alternatives

Introduction
Congress has long considered various ways to oversee intelligence, an often perplexing and
always difficult responsibility because of the secrecy and sensitivity surrounding intelligence
findings, conclusions, dissemination, and sources and methods.1 The field has become more
complicated and demanding in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the need for
improved information sharing to overcome “foreign-domestic divide” that hampered effective
intelligence gathering, evaluation, and dissemination.2
The current state of affairs reflects a multi-faceted phenomenon. Not only does “intelligence”
overlap both foreign and domestic areas; but it also covers a diversity of subjects, agencies, and
procedures within each. Oversight of intelligence, particularly in the foreign realm, is
consolidated to a large degree in the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence. But it
is not centralized there; each panel has exclusive legislative authority over only the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Director of National Intelligence (DNI). A number of other
committees share oversight, including the four (appropriations, armed services, foreign
affairs/foreign relations, and judiciary) that have representation on their chamber’s intelligence
committee. Additional panels with oversight or legislative jurisdiction over parts of U.S.
intelligence include those dealing with civil liberties, government-controlled information,
homeland security, government organization and reorganization, or individual agencies that
conduct intelligence themselves of rely on other agencies for it. Along with these organizational
arrangements, oversight of intelligence is affected by formal reporting requirements3 as well as
informal agreements between Members and staff in Congress and officials and staff in the
executive branch. Finally, custom and tradition play a role in the oversight process.

1 Among many other sources examining congressional oversight of intelligence and executive-legislative relations in
the area, see Loch K. Johnson and James J. Wirtz, eds., Strategic Intelligence: Windows Into a Secret World (An
Anthology) (Los Angeles, Roxbury Publishing Co., 2004), Part VII, Accountability and Civil Liberties, pp. 345-427; L.
Britt Snider, The Agency and the Hill: CIA’s Relationship with Congress, 1946-2004 (Washington, Center for the
Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 2008), and Sharing Secrets with Lawmakers: Congress as a User of
Intelligence
(Washington, Center for the Study of Intelligence, CIA, 1997); Frank J. Smist, Congress Oversees the
United States Intelligence Community, 1947-1994
(Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, 1994); John M. Oseth,
Regulating U.S. Intelligence Operations: A Study in the Definition of the National Interest (Lexington, University of
Kentucky Press, 1985); David M. Barrett, The CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy
(Lawrence, University Press of Kansas, 2005); and U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Legislative
Oversight of Intelligence Activities: The U.S. Experience
, Senate Print, 103-88, 103rd Congress, 2nd sess. (Washington,
GPO, 1994). Several CRS Reports, dealing with the areas, include CRS Report RL33742, 9/11 Commission
Recommendations: Implementation Status
, by Richard F. Grimmett; CRS Report R40240, Intelligence Authorization
Legislation: Status and Challenges
, by Richard A. Best Jr.; CRS Report R40136, Congress as a Consumer of
Intelligence Information
, by Alfred Cumming; CRS Report R40698, “Gang of Four” Congressional Intelligence
Notifications
, by Alfred Cumming; CRS Report R40602, The Department of Homeland Security Intelligence
Enterprise: Operational Overview and Oversight Challenges for Congress
, by Mark A. Randol; and CRS Report
RL33616, Homeland Security Intelligence: Perceptions, Statutory Definitions, and Approaches, by Mark A. Randol. A
broad overview of oversight is available in CRS Report RL30240, Congressional Oversight Manual, by Frederick M.
Kaiser et al.
2 Masse, Homeland Security Intelligence, p. 1.
3 Such requirements are dealt with in two CRS reports: CRS Report R40698, “Gang of Four” Congressional
Intelligence Notifications
, and CRS Report R40691, Sensitive Covert Action Notifications: Oversight Options for
Congress
, both by Alfred Cumming.
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The first oversight proposal—to create a joint committee on intelligence (JCI)—appeared in
1948.4 This was just one year after the establishment of the CIA and the Office of Director of
Central Intelligence (DCI), both integral parts of the most far-reaching executive reorganization
in United States history.5 Numerous initiatives to change Congress’s oversight structure have
materialized in the meantime, including, most importantly, the creation of parallel Select
Committees on Intelligence in both chambers. Nonetheless, Congress’s oversight capability in
this area has been questioned. The 9/11 Commission’s report, released in 2004, notably,
concluded that congressional oversight of intelligence was “dysfunctional” and recommended
either a merger of appropriations and authorization powers into each select committee or the
creation of a Joint Committee on Intelligence.6 Since then, the House’s and Senate’s actions
modifying each body’s own structure have followed different paths, diverging not only from the
9/11 Commission proposals but also from each other.7
This report reviews the basic characteristics of proposed joint committees on intelligence,
differences among them, and perceived advantages and disadvantages.8 It also covers the
congressional panels a JCI would replace: namely, the House and Senate Select Committees on
Intelligence. Along with this is a brief review of the defunct Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
(JCAE)—often cited as an organizational model for a joint intelligence panel, as it has been for
the 9/11 Commission.
In addition, the report looks at recent actions, such as the creation of a new (and possibly unique
in the history of Congress) intelligence oversight advisory panel on the House Appropriations
Committee, combining Members from both the parent committee and the Select Committee on
Intelligence; the new panel would make recommendations regarding the annual intelligence
community appropriations to the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. This report also covers
separate developments in the Senate, including a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in 2007,
designed to improve coordination and transparency between the Intelligence Committee, which
handles authorizations for the intelligence community, and the Appropriations Committee, which
handles appropriations for the same. Other ways seen as strengthening oversight in this field
would be to (1) clarify and expand the authority of the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
over the Intelligence Community (IC), particularly the CIA; (2) remove the agency’s exemption
from coverage of the Government Performance and Results Act; (3) add a new statutory inspector

4 H.Con.Res. 186, 80th Cong., 2nd sess., introduced by Rep. Devitt, April 21, 1948.
5 The monumental National Security Act of 1947 also gave birth to the National Security Council and National Military
Establishment, later re-designated as the Department of Defense, among other organizational and procedural
transformations (61 Stat. 496 et seq.).
6 U.S. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report
(Washington: GPO, 2004), p. 420.
7 The House and Senate have considered proposals in this broad area through their existing committees as well as a
bipartisan working group in the Senate, which has recommended enhancing the powers and status of the current
Intelligence Committee. Sen. Mitch McConnell, “Senators Reid and McConnell Convene Meeting of Bipartisan
Working Group to Reform Congressional Oversight of Intelligence,” Press Release, October 4, 2004; Sen. Bill Frist,
“Frist, Daschle Appoint Members to Working Group Evaluating 9/11 Commission Proposals,” Press Release, August
25, 2004.
8 Additional coverage of JCI recommendations, characteristics, and perceived advantages and disadvantages, which are
detailed below, is available in U.S. House Committee on Rules, Subcommittee on Rules of the House, House Rule
XLVIII
, hearing, 101st Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington: GPO, 1990); Frederick M. Kaiser, “A Proposed Joint Committee
on Intelligence: New Wine in an Old Bottle,” Journal of Law and Politics, vol.5, fall 1988, pp. 127-186; and
Independent Task Force, Council on Foreign Relations, Making Intelligence Smarter: The Future of U.S. Intelligence
(New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1996), pp. 32-33.
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general (IG) to encompass the whole IC, along with IGs for certain Defense Department
intelligence agencies; and (4) increase coordination and strengthen reporting requirements among
the relevant offices of inspector general.
House and Senate Select Committees
on Intelligence

A joint committee on intelligence would replace the current House Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence, established in 1977, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, created a
year earlier.9 These units emerged after extensive, detailed congressional and executive
investigations revealed widespread abuses in the IC and concluded that effective congressional
oversight was lacking. The panels were set up to consolidate legislative and oversight authority
over the entire intelligence community, supplanting the fragmented system at the time, which
relied exclusively on disparate standing committees. Although titled “Select,” the intelligence
panels are hybrids of standing and select committees, adopting characteristics of both types. For
instance, the panels have only temporary membership, as select committees have, because they
are usually short-term constructions; yet each panel holds authority to report legislation to its own
chamber, a power usually reserved to standing committees.
Jurisdiction and Authority
The Intelligence Committees have broad jurisdiction over the intelligence community and report
authorizations and other legislation for consideration by their respective chambers. A recent
change in the House places three members of the Intelligence Committee on a new Select
Intelligence Oversight Panel on the Appropriations Committee (H.Res. 35, 110th Congress). The
new panel, which appears unprecedented in the history of Congress, is to study and make
recommendations to relevant appropriations subcommittees. This includes the Defense
Appropriations Subcommittee, which continues to prepare the annual intelligence community
budget, as part of the classified annex to the bill making appropriations for the Department of
Defense.
Most of the jurisdiction of the current Intelligence Committees is shared. The select committees
hold exclusive authorizing and legislative powers only for the CIA, the DNI (as it had over the
now-defunct Director of Central Intelligence), and the National Foreign Intelligence Program.

9 In addition to the citations in notes 1, 5, and 6 above, the development of and proposals for congressional oversight of
intelligence are examined in, among many other sources: U.S. House Select Committee on Intelligence,
Recommendations of the Final Report, H.Rept. 94-833, 94th Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington, GPO, 1976), pp. 1-4; U.S.
Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Activities with respect to Intelligence Activities, S.Rept. 94-755, 94th
Cong., 2nd sess., Book II, Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans (Washington, GPO, 1976), p. 339;
Frederick M. Kaiser, “Congress and the Intelligence Community,” in Roger Davidson, ed., The Postreform Congress
(New York, St. Martins Press, 1992), pp. 279-300; Loch K. Johnson, “Accountability and America’s Secret Foreign
Policy: Keeping a Legislative Eye on the Central Intelligence Agency,” Foreign Policy Analysis, 2005, vol. 1, pp. 99-
120, Mark M. Lowenthal, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy (Washington, CQ Press, 2006), Chapter 10; “Oversight
and Accountability;” Center for Strategic and International Studies, Congressional Oversight of National Security: A
Mandate for Change
(Washington, CSIS, 1992); and Center for the Study of the Presidency, Project on National
Security Reform, Ensuring Security in an Unpredictable World: Preliminary Findings, July 2008, pp. v-vii, 60-63, and
87-90, available at http://www.pnsr.org.
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This leaves the intelligence components in the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security,
Justice, and Treasury, among other agencies, to be shared with appropriate standing committees.
The House and Senate intelligence panels have nearly identical jurisdictions for the intelligence
community. The House panel’s domain, however, also extends over an area that the Senate’s does
not: “tactical intelligence and intelligence-related activities,” which covers tactical military
intelligence. In another departure, the House Select Committee has been given authority to
“review and study on an exclusive basis the sources and methods of entities” in the IC.10
Membership and Leadership
The membership of the committees has been limited in time, staggered, and connected to the
standing committee system and political party system in Congress. These features, moreover,
differ between the two panels. Each select committee, for instance, reserves seats for members
from the chamber’s committees on Appropriations, Armed Services, Foreign Affairs/Foreign
Relations, and Judiciary. The specifics differ, however: the Senate requires two persons, a
majority and minority Member, from each of these standing committees, while the House calls
for only one Member from each standing committee with overlapping jurisdiction.
The two panels also differ in size (21 on the House panel and 15 on the Senate counterpart, plus
ex officio members on each), tenure, and other membership features, including partisan
composition and leadership arrangements. Since its inception, the Senate panel has had only one
more Member from the majority party than the minority (an eight-to-seven ratio); and its vice
chairman, who takes over if the chair is unavailable, must come from the minority party. The
House select committee, in contrast, reflected the full chamber party ratio when it was established
in 1977: two-to-one plus one, resulting in an initial nine-to-four majority-minority party
membership on the panel. In the meantime, however, the minority party has been granted
additional seats on the committee and the majority-minority party ratio in the full House has
grown closer. The result is a select committee membership party ratio of 12-to-9 in the 110th
Congress.
Secrecy Controls
The committees also have different secrecy arrangements regarding controls over their classified
holdings. Secrecy oaths distinguish the two chambers. All Members of the House, including, of
course, those on the Intelligence Committee, must swear or affirm not to disclose classified
information, except as authorized by the rules of the chamber; the current oath is modeled after a
previous one which had been required only for the members of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence. The Senate does not impose a similar obligation on its Members.11
Non-member access to classified materials also separates the two panels. The House committee
has a more detailed and exacting set of requirements for non-members than its Senate
counterpart.

10 House Rule 3(l), added by H.Res. 5, 107th Cong., January 3, 2001.
11 CRS Report RS20748, Protection of Classified Information by Congress: Practices and Proposals, by Frederick M.
Kaiser.
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In addition, the Senate panel is authorized to disclose classified information publicly on its own
(following elaborate procedures in which the President and the full Senate have an opportunity to
act). By comparison, the House select committee cannot do so, if the President objects to its
release; in that case, the House itself makes the determination by majority vote.
Joint Committee on Atomic Energy as a Model
The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (JCAE)—set up by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946,
along with the Atomic Energy Commission (P.L. 585, 60 Stat. 772-773)—is often cited as an
appropriate organizational model for a joint committee on intelligence, a reference the 9/11
Commission also adopted.12 The JCAE, an 18-member panel composed of an equal number of
Members from each house of Congress, held authority to report legislation to the floor of both
chambers, a power unique among joint committees.13 Many reasons have been offered for
considering the JCAE as a model:
• favorable record for keeping highly confidential material secret;
• largely bipartisan approach to policy-making;
• considerable unity among its members;
• close working relationship with the executive (here, the Atomic Energy
Commission) in this secretive and sensitive area;
• consolidated jurisdiction for a growing field;
• explicit, comprehensive oversight mandate, supported by a then-unprecedented
directive that the executive keep the joint committee “fully and currently
informed”; and
• ability to streamline the legislative process in general and to act rapidly, if
necessary, in particular instances.
Given these attributes, the joint committee became a formidable congressional panel. In its prime,
JCAE was even considered by some as “probably the most powerful congressional committee in
the history of the nation.”14 Despite this—or perhaps because of it—the JCAE was abolished in
1977, nearly 30 years after its birth. It was evidently the victim of a number of reinforcing
developments: concerns inside and outside Congress about JCAE’s close, some thought cozy,
relationship with the executive agency it was overseeing; changing executive branch conditions,

12 For background and further citations on the JCAE, see CRS Report RL32538, 9/11 Commission Recommendations:
Joint Committee on Atomic Energy—A Model for Congressional Oversight?
, by Christopher M. Davis; Harold P.
Green and Allen Rosenthal, Government of the Atom: The Integration of Powers (New York: Atherton Press, 1963);
and Kaiser, “A Proposed Joint Committee on Intelligence,” pp. 138-141.
13 One caveat to the unique status of the JCAE is the Temporary Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction; it was
authorized to report legislation but only on a narrow subject and on a case-by-case basis. In contrast to the JCAE, this
joint panel was a short-term, periodic addition to Congress, set up by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act of 1985. The
panel could come into existence only when legislation on budget sequestration was needed and was empowered to
report only a joint resolution setting forth specified reports from the Directors of the Office of Management and Budget
and the Congressional Budget Office. P.L. 99-177, 99 Stat. 1037, 1100 (1985). This provision apparently was never
activated and was not included in the 1987 revision of GRH.
14 Green and Rosenthal, Government of the Atom, p. 266.
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such as the breakup of the Atomic Energy Commission into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
and the Energy Research and Development Administration, now the Department of Energy; new
rivals in Congress, as the expanding nature of atomic energy and nuclear power extended into the
jurisdictions of a number of House and Senate committees; efforts in the Senate at the time to
realign and consolidate standing committee jurisdictions and reduce the number of assignments
for each Member; and a relatively high number of vacancies on the JCAE (six of the 18 seats).15
Proposed Joint Committee on Intelligence
Characteristics

Recommendations to create a joint committee on intelligence have surfaced over nearly five
decades, most predating the establishment of the two select committees on intelligence in the
mid-1970s. Although many of these suggestions, including that from the 9/11 Commission, have
followed the design of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, not all have; consequently, the
specifics in the blueprints have varied in a number of fundamental ways. Differences extend to
(1) the range and exclusivity of the panels’ jurisdiction; (2) makeup of their membership; (3)
selection and rotation of chairmen; (4) possibility of and characteristics of a vice chairmanship;
(5) requirements for representation of certain other committees as well as at-large members; (6)
special secrecy requirements for members and staff, including a secrecy oath and security
clearances; (7) staff size, method of selection, and restrictions on activities; (8) official
disclosures of classified information; (9) mechanisms for investigating suspected unauthorized
disclosures of such information; and (10) access by non-members to the joint committee’s
classified holdings. Even suggested methods of establishment have varied.
Methods of Establishment
A joint committee on intelligence could be created by a concurrent resolution, a joint resolution,
or a regular bill. The Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, for instance, was established by public
law through the regular bill process (i.e., the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, P.L. 580, 60 Stat. 772-
773).
A concurrent resolution has the advantage (for its proponents) of requiring only the approval of
Congress, while a joint resolution or regular bill must be signed by the President or his veto
overridden. A joint resolution or a bill, however, may offer certain benefits to its supporters over a
concurrent resolution. A number of existing provisions in public law, especially ones dealing with
intelligence reporting requirements to Congress, designates the House and Senate Select
Committees on Intelligence as recipients (e.g., the intelligence oversight provisions and the
reporting requirements for the CIA Inspector General, codified at 50 U.S.C. 413-415 and 50
U.S.C. 403q, respectively). A bill or joint resolution, when creating a joint committee, could
amend these statutory provisions, whereas a concurrent resolution could not do so directly. But a
concurrent resolution, although solely a congressional device, could have the same effect. By
changing the rules of both chambers, a concurrent resolution could recognize that the powers,
authority, and jurisdiction of the former select committees would be transferred to a new joint
committee.

15 Kaiser, “A Proposed Joint Committee on Intelligence,” pp. 140-141.
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Jurisdiction and Authority
A joint Intelligence Committee could consolidate jurisdiction for the entire intelligence
community, extending to all intelligence entities as well as intelligence and intelligence-related
activities, including significant anticipated activities (i.e., covert operations). Legislative authority
over intelligence could be shared for all entities with overlapping jurisdiction; or, as is now the
case in the House and Senate, it could be held exclusively for certain specified components (e.g.,
CIA and DNI), while being shared for others.
Membership
A bicameral body requires equal membership from both the Senate and House. In addition to
bicameralism, a joint committee on intelligence could be directed to accommodate three other
criteria: bipartisanship, representation of specified standing committees, and at-large selection of
members.
For example, the membership from each chamber could be required to have representatives from
standing committees with overlapping jurisdiction (e.g., Appropriations, Armed Services, Foreign
Affairs/Foreign Relations, and Judiciary), as both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees
do now. This selection might include both a majority and a minority party member from each
represented committee. A JCI could also call for a specified number of members selected at-large,
as the Senate intelligence panel does now. As an illustration, an 18-member JCI could include
nine Senators and nine Representatives, with five majority and four minority party members from
each chamber. At least one member, but not more than two, could come from each of the four
committees with overlapping jurisdiction; this option (a maximum of eight from each chamber)
would still allow for one selection at large from each house. By comparison, a larger committee
or a panel requiring only a single member from each of the specified standing committees would
allow for more members to be selected at-large.
Provision could also be made for ex officio members, particularly the majority and minority party
leaders from the Senate and the Speaker and minority leader from the House.
Terms and Rotation
Membership on the joint committee could have no term limits or be given a maximum length of
service (six or eight years, as the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have had, or shorter
or longer terms). Under term limits, the total time on the committee might be measured either by
continuous service or by non-continuous service accumulated over a specified number of
Congresses (e.g., a total of eight years over six Congresses). If a JCI had maximum lengths of
service, it could be treated as a temporary assignment, which might not count against other
standing committee assignments in each chamber. By comparison, membership on the JCI could
be permanent.16 If so, it might be treated as if it were a standing committee in each chamber,
counting against other committee assignments.

16 The 9/11 Commission—referring to both a joint committee on intelligence and a new standing committee in each
house—recommended that “Members should serve indefinitely on the committees, without set terms, thereby letting
them accumulate expertise.” 9/11 Commission, Report, p. 421.
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Member terms could also be staggered, so that new members would arrive with each new
Congress. Staggered terms, however, would mean that a portion of the original membership could
not serve the maximum period, at least not as part of the original composition.
Leadership
The chair, selected at the beginning of each Congress or each session (as some proposals called
for), could alternate between the two chambers and/or political parties. A vice chairmanship could
also be established; this officer would replace the chair when he or she is absent (as occurs now
on the Senate Intelligence Committee). The vice chair could be a member of the other body
and/or the other political party.
Secrecy Controls
Various types of secrecy controls could be applied to a joint committee on intelligence to regulate
access to its classified holdings by non-committee members, protect against the unauthorized
disclosure of classified information, and allow its authorized release. Such controls could (1) set
requirements for determining access by non-members; (2) require security clearances, oaths,
and/or secrecy agreements for committee members and staff; and (3) provide for investigation of
suspected security breaches, conducted by the House and Senate Ethics Committees.
Controls could also spell out procedures for disclosing classified information to which the
President objects, either by a joint committee itself, by the joint committee in concert with either
or both chambers, or by either or both chambers as the final arbiter. One of five distinct options
might be adopted: (1) the joint committee on intelligence could act alone; (2) the panel could act
only after one house responded to a request from it to release classified information; (3) the JCI
could act only after both houses responded; (4) a single house could disclose the information; or
(5) both chambers would have to agree to do so. Currently, disclosure procedures differ between
the House and Senate intelligence panels. The House select committee does not have authority to
release classified information on its own. The full House must act to disclose it, at the request of
its intelligence panel, if the President objects to the release. On the Senate side, the select
committee may disclose classified information on its own, after both the President and full Senate
have acted.17 It appears that this procedure has not been used by the Senate panel.
Staffing
The number of staff on a new JCI would presumably be smaller than the combined total for both
the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Hiring could be accomplished in seven different
ways: (1) by the majority party on the full JCI; (2) by the majority party from each chamber on
the committee; (3) by full committee vote; (4) by the majority party and minority party
separately; (5) by the chair alone; (6) by the chair and vice chair/ranking minority member
together; or (7) by individual members (with each legislator selecting a single staff member).

17 The select committee’s charter provides for three responses from the full Senate to an Intelligence Committee request
to release classified information, if the President objects to it. The chamber can (1) approve the disclosure; (2)
disapprove the disclosure; or (3) “refer all or any portion of the matter back to the committee, in which case the
committee shall make the final determination with respect to the public disclosure of the information in question” (Sec.
8(b)(5), S.Res. 400, 94th Cong., 2nd sess.).
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Additionally, staff could be selected by a combination of several compatible ways (e.g.,
individual member selections for some plus committee-wide selections for others). The staff
could also be required to meet certain agreed upon criteria set by the committee, such as fitness
for the duties and without regard to party affiliation.18
Staffers could be required to have an appropriate security clearance (for Top Secret and access to
Sensitive Compartmented Information), as is now mandated by both House and Senate select
committees. They could also be directed to sign a nondisclosure or secrecy agreement not to
reveal classified information, again a requirement for the staff of both intelligence panels.
Budget and Funding
The budget for a joint committee on intelligence would presumably be smaller than the combined
budgets of the House and Senate intelligence panels. Funding could be shared by both chambers,
deriving equally from the contingent funds of the Senate and House.
Pros and Cons
Differences over the establishment of a joint committee on intelligence tie into practical matters
as well as matters of principle.
Pros
Supporters of a joint committee on intelligence argue that it would make for a more effective and
efficient overseer than the current arrangement, which the 9/11 Commission concluded “is now
dysfunctional,” because of limitations on the two select committees.19 According to its
proponents, a single joint committee, housing fewer members and staff than the two existing ones
combined, would:
• Strengthen oversight of intelligence for four primary reasons. The executive
would be more open and forthright with a single, small oversight body than with
two with a larger combined membership; the legislators and staff on the JCI,
recognizing that there is no other authorizing panel to conduct oversight, would
attach a greater importance to this responsibility; a committee composed of
legislators from both chambers could better integrate and take advantage of
congressional expertise and experience in the field; and a JCI could be

18 The 9/11 Commission, for instance, recommended that the “staff of this committee should be nonpartisan and work
for the entire committee and not for individual members.” 9/11 Commission, Report, p. 420.
19 Competing views on a joint committee on intelligence are available from Members and committees of Congress,
among other sources. Supportive arguments are included in: U.S. Senate Temporary Select Committee to Study the
Senate Committee System, Report (Washington: GPO, 1984), pp. 13-14; Sen. Howard Baker and Rep. Henry Hyde,
statements before the Temporary Select Committee, Senate Resolution 127, To Study the Senate Committee System
(Washington: GPO, 1984), part 1, pp. 5-11 and part 2, pp. 83-85; Rep. Henry Hyde, statement before the Joint
Committee on the Organization of Congress, Committee Structure, hearings, 103rd Cong., 1st sess. (Washington: GPO,
1993), pp. 832-841; and Minority, Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan
Opposition and House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, Report, S.Rept. 100-216
and H.Rept. 100-433, 100th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington: GPO, 1987), p. 583.
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established with fewer restraints and restrictions than the separate select
committees now have.
• Improve coordination, cooperation, and comity between the House and Senate
and among other relevant committees (with overlapping jurisdiction) in both
chambers. A joint committee could serve as a conduit of information and advice
and as a facilitator for policy formulation between the two chambers as well as
between the political parties; a JCI could also encourage mutual respect and trust
between the chambers and parties; this could occur by treating all of its members
equally in committee leadership posts and voting, by merging the stands of
Members of both houses in committee deliberations and decisions, by taking a
joint committee consensus on legislation, endorsed by Members of both
chambers, to the floor of each house, and by providing an opportunity for House
Members to be involved, if only marginally and informally, in a Senate function
(i.e., confirmation of presidential nominees).
• Streamline the legislative process, because only one committee, rather than two,
would have to consider and report legislative proposals and authorizations to the
floors of both chambers; members from the same joint committee, moreover,
might comprise all or a majority of the membership of conference committees,
which might be less necessary in the first place because of the bicameral,
bipartisan makeup of a joint committee.
• Respond rapidly to investigate a major development, when conditions dictated.
• Increase the stature of overseeing and legislating on intelligence matters and,
thus, make serving on an intelligence panel more attractive and important than on
either select committee. This could result from making the joint committee the
equivalent of a standing committee, by granting it permanency and authority to
report legislation to each chamber and giving the members indefinite tenure. A
JCI with these characteristics would be unique in the current era, the first of its
kind since 1977, and apparently one of only a few in the history of Congress, also
elevating its stature.
• Make for more efficient government. A single panel, versus two, would probably
reduce the amount of time that the Administration and intelligence officials
would spend on Capitol Hill testifying, briefing, notifying, and meeting with
members and panels.
• Improve the protection of classified information in Congress’s possession. A
smaller number of legislators and staff on a joint committee would have access to
it, and a single office would be easier to secure.
• Encourage trust between Congress and the Executive in this sensitive field. This
could occur by reducing the number of panels, Members, and staff with access to
such highly classified information and by easing the cooperative relationship
between the branches by way of a single committee, instead of two.
• Pinpoint responsibility in Congress for oversight and legislation affecting
intelligence, thereby avoiding any confusion or uncertainty about it.
• Cut back the total number of committee seats for legislators in the House and
Senate combined, by replacing the two panels with a single committee with
fewer seats; for instance, a new 18-member joint committee with nine Senators
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and Representatives would be half the size of the combined total of 37 on the two
select committees. The replacement would modestly help reduce the number of
legislators holding too many committee assignments and/or being “spread too
thin.” Reducing the number of seats available for Representatives and Senators
would allow them to concentrate on one less committee assignment.
• Reduce costs, because of fewer staff and a single suite of offices.
Cons
Critics of proposals for replacing the current House and Senate Intelligence Committees with a
single joint committee contend that it would weaken oversight and compromise a fundamental
feature of the Congress, namely, two different (and sometimes competing) bodies.20 As viewed by
its opponents, a JCI would:
• Adversely affect oversight of intelligence. This would occur by reducing the
number of legislators and staff who have an incentive and opportunity to conduct
oversight and by reducing the number of separate panels, with different
characteristics and incentive structures, to conduct it; in this regard, the number
of committees to which the President reports covert action plans is now only two
(the select committees on intelligence), having been reduced from eight in 1980,
at the request of the executive.
• Undercut the legislative benefits (e.g. longer deliberation time and different
viewpoints) of relying on two committees from separate and distinctive
chambers. This usual situation allows two panels—each reflecting different
chambers, types of constituencies, and electoral schedules—to examine the same
legislation and authorizations and conduct oversight from different vantage
points, based on their own priorities and demands; the loss of a second view
would be felt not only in the initial committee deliberations but also in later
conference committee action, which might be dominated by joint committee
members.
• Cause a loss in continuity, stability, and experience. This would be especially
evident in joint committee leadership, if the chair (and ranking member or vice
chair) rotated every two years; this in turn would make membership on the joint
committee less desirable than on other panels; the turnover could also extend to
staff, because of the frequent change in leadership; finally, this loss of stability
and experience could hamper Congress’s ability to influence public policy and
compete with the executive.
• Result in a more acute impact on Congress if a joint committee develops a close
and supportive relationship with the executive entities it oversees, rather than a

20 Criticisms and concerns are voiced by Rep. Dan Glickman, Rep. Larry Combest, and Sen. Dennis DeConcini,
statements before the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, Committee Structure, hearings, 103rd Cong., 1st
sess., pp. 64-79 and 406-412; Rep. Larry Combest, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence, IC21—The Intelligence Community in the 21st Century, The Intelligence Community Act of 1996, Mar. 4,
1996, p. 7; U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. IC21: Intelligence Community in the 21st Century
(staff study), committee print, 104th Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington: GPO, 1966), pp. 316-318 and 328; House Select
Committee on Committees, Final Report (Washington: GPO, 1980), p. 416; and Majority, Senate and House Select
Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, Report, p. 427.
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neutral and critical one. With a single panel, Congress would have only one locus
for oversight and checks on the executive, not two; if this happens, the impact on
Congress, on oversight, and on legislation would be more extensive and
significant, because of the absence of a possible balance from a second
committee.
• Operate contrary to the long-term tendency to end reliance on joint committees,
either by abolishing them or not establishing them in the first place.21 A JCI, if
authorized to report legislation to the floor of both houses, would be unique
currently; it would be the only such empowered joint committee since 1977
(when the JCAE was abolished), and one of the few in the history of the
Congress; a joint committee on intelligence would also raise the prospect of
similar panels for other policy areas, including homeland security, which have
wide-ranging jurisdictions that cross a number of executive agencies and
programs along with congressional committee jurisdictions.
• Harbor uncertainty regarding confirmation of presidential nominees. It might be
unclear whether House Members should play any role at all in the process or, if
so, perhaps only at certain stages (e.g., initial meetings and interviews,
background investigations, formal hearings).
• Artificially make the political parties equal or nearly so. This could occur, even
though the differences in party ratios in each chamber could be substantial, as
they have been in the past.
• Artificially make the two chambers equal on the joint committee. The number of
Members from each chamber would be the same, even though the House is more
than four times larger than the Senate; because of this situation, Representatives
would have proportionately fewer opportunities to serve on a joint committee
than Senators.
• Cut back the possibility of serving on an intelligence panel for all Members of
Congress, especially if there are no term limits on JCI membership. This
reduction in numbers would, in turn, reduce the diversity and representational
characteristics of the membership compared to two separate committees.
• Bring about a change in the different jurisdictions that the current select
committees now hold. The House panel having a broader jurisdiction than its
Senate counterpart.
• Not necessarily improve protection of classified information over the current two
select committees. Their controls over it are exacting and their reputations in this
regard are good; a JCI could also require new procedures for the public release of
classified intelligence information held by the joint committee; this would raise
the prospect of (and cause disagreement over) whether the joint committee alone
could do so, whether one chamber could do so, or whether both houses must act
together as the final arbiter.

21 The 9/11 Commission (p. 421), for instance, did not advocate a joint committee for homeland security. Instead, it
called for consolidating jurisdiction in a permanent standing committee in each chamber. For additional discussion on
such a transformation, see CRS Report RS21901, House Select Committee on Homeland Security: Possible Questions
Raised If the Panel Were to Be Reconstituted as a Standing Committee
, by Judy Schneider.
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• Add confusion and conflict over investigations of suspected unauthorized
disclosures of classified information. This could arise, for instance, if the ethics
committee from one chamber conducted investigations which involved members
of the other body, even if only tangentially and in an initial inquiry.
• Raise practical difficulties in setting meeting schedules, times, and locations for
panel members from two different chambers of Congress.
Alternatives to a Joint Committee
There are other options which might enhance and regularize congressional oversight of
intelligence. These changes, both formal and informal, could have an impact not only on the
structure of the current select committees on intelligence, but also on their relationship with other
committees and Members in its respective chamber and its counterparts in the opposite chamber,
as well as the relationship between the legislature and the executive.
Changing the Select Committees’ Structure and Powers
The most direct and immediate among the options to increase and improve oversight of
intelligence would be ways to enhance the status, stature, and resources of the existing select
committees on intelligence or replace them with standing committees.22 This might be
accomplished through several different (and sometimes competing) means:
• Grant the current select committees status as standing committees, along with
indefinite tenure for their membership, to reduce turnover; increase experience,
stability, and continuity; and make membership on the panel more attractive.
• Expand the authority of such committees, giving them power to report
appropriations as well as authorizations and to hold subpoena authority on their
own.
• Place members of the Select Committee on Intelligence on their chamber’s
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense or create a new Appropriations
Subcommittee on Intelligence, possibly including Intelligence Committee
members, with comprehensive jurisdiction over IC appropriations.
• Establish a special advisory and oversight body on the Appropriations
Committee, combining Intelligence Committee and Appropriations Committee
members, as the House has done; under this plan, the new panel would report its
findings and recommendations for IC funding to the defense or other appropriate

22 The 9/11 Commission emphasized the need for “substantial change” in congressional oversight, either by
establishing a joint committee or by creating “a single committee in each house of Congress, combining authorization
and appropriating authorities .... ” Each panel would be a standing committee and hold subpoena authority. The
membership would be relatively small and serve without term limits. Its composition would be nearly equal between
the parties, with the majority having only one more member than the minority, and representing four panels with
overlapping jurisdiction (i.e., Armed Services, Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and the Defense Appropriations
Subcommittee) with one seat each on the new committee. 9/11 Commission, Report, p. 420-421. For further
information and analysis, see CRS Report RS21908, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: Term Limits and
Assignment Limitations
, by Judy Schneider.
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subcommittee, thereby modestly expanding the effective jurisdiction and
influence of the select committee.23
• Add professional staff, hire temporary consultants, set up short-term task forces,
and/or increase the use of congressional support agencies, especially in fields
where the panels might require new or expanded expertise and skills.
Although neither the House nor the Senate adopted the 9/11 Commission recommendations for
intelligence oversight, other changes have occurred through a variety of mechanisms. These
include the chambers’ leadership, existing committees, and a Senate bipartisan working group;
these efforts have led to the Senate’s restructuring its oversight panels and each chamber
instituting new working arrangements between its intelligence and appropriations panels.
Senate Action
The Senate’s response to the 9/11 Commission and other recommendations for oversight of
intelligence has proceeded through several phases.
Initial Changes in 2004
Several of these suggestions were approved by the Senate on October 9, 2004, when it agreed to
S.Res. 445 (108th Congress) affecting its oversight of intelligence. The resolution eliminated
certain restrictions on serving on the select committee, reduced the number of members (from 17
to 15), and modified security procedures regarding the public disclosure of classified information.
S.Res. 445, however, did not transfer authority and jurisdiction over intelligence appropriations to
the Intelligence Committee.
Structural Changes Involving the Committees on Intelligence and
Appropriations in 2007

Additional steps were taken in the 110th Congress. A prominent one is a Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA), designed to improve coordination and transparency between the Intelligence
Committee and Appropriations Committee.24 The MOA—signed by the chairman of the select
committee (but not its ranking minority member) and the chairs and ranking minority members of
the Senate Appropriations Committee and its defense subcommittee—advanced several changes
to accomplish this:
• notify staff and allow them to attend the intelligence hearings of the other body;

23 This proposal materialized in 2007 in the House with members of the Intelligence Committee serving on a special
oversight panel on the Appropriations Committee (H.Res. 35, 110th Congress). The concept was raised in late 2006 by
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, then House Minority Leader and prospective Speaker of the House. Tim Starks, “Pelosi Wants
Intelligence Appropriations Oversight Panel,” CQ.com, December 14, 2006; David Rogers, “Pelosi Plans Panel to
Oversee Spy-Agency Funds,” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 14, 2006, p. A3; and “Pelosi Looks to Boost Oversight of
Intelligence and Ethics,” Washington Post, December 15, 2006.
24 Hon. John D. Rockefeller, Chairman, Opening Statement, in U.S. Congress, Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence, Congressional Oversight, hearing, 110th Cong., 1st sess., November 13, 2007, p. 2. See also, letter to Hon.
Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, and Hon. Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, on changes in Senate
oversight of intelligence, by Hon. John D. Rockefeller, Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and others,
February 28, 2007.
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• allow each Intelligence Committee member who is also an appropriator to bring
his or her intelligence staff members to Appropriations Committee hearings and
markups;
• permit all Senators and cleared staff of one committee to review the bill, report,
and classified annex of the other before action is taken; and
• give the chairmen and ranking minority members of each the committee the
opportunity to appear before the other panel to present their views prior to the
markup of either the intelligence authorization or appropriations bills.25
Notwithstanding the effort, the effectiveness of the new arrangements under the Memorandum of
Agreement has elicited differing impressions. The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee
emphasized that the agreement “has made great strides toward bringing our committees together
in a unity of effort that was lacking before.”26 A competing interpretation was offered by the
Intelligence Committee’s ranking minority member, who was also an appropriator at the time. He
determined that the MOA was “ineffective,” adding that “in my experience I’ve seen more
evidence of the need for a better synthesis of the two.”27
Subsequent Proposed Changes Involving the Committees on Intelligence and
Appropriations

In March 2008, 14 of the 15 members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence—led by
Chairman Rockefeller and Vice Chairman Christopher S. Bond—offered another proposal to the
Senate leadership.28 It called for the establishment of a Subcommittee on Intelligence on the
Appropriations Committee, which would include members of the Intelligence Committee and
would appropriate all funds for the National Intelligence Program (NIP), as opposed to the
current situation where such appropriations are divided among several appropriations
subcommittees. In defense of this option, Senators Rockefeller and Bond reminded the Senate
leadership that the 9/11 Commission’s bolder recommendation—to consolidate authorization and
appropriations authority in the SSCI—“was considered and rejected by the Senate during
consideration of S.Res. 445 in October 2004.”29
This plan for a new Appropriations Intelligence Subcommittee was opposed by the leadership of
the Senate Appropriations Committee. Its chairman, Robert C. Byrd, and ranking member, Thad
Cochran, noted that other changes in oversight, including those by way of the 2007 MOA, have
been put into effect.30 They argued that the proposed Intelligence Appropriations Subcommittee,
“led by members of the Intelligence Committee,” would prove counterproductive: “We strongly

25 Senator Rockefeller, Opening Statement, Congressional Oversight, pp. 2-3.
26 Ibid., p. 3.
27 Hon. Christopher S. Bond, Opening Statement, in Senate Intelligence Committee, Congressional Oversight, pp. 4-5.
28 Hon. John D. Rockefeller, Chairman, and Hon. Christopher S. Bond, Vice Chairman, Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence, and others; letter to Hon. Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, and Hon. Mitch McConnell, Senate
Minority Leader, on proposals to change Senate oversight of intelligence, March 6, 2008, pp. 2-3. Reprinted in
Congressional Record, vol. 154, Sept. 11, 2008, pp. S8419-S8420.
29 Senators Rockefeller and Bond, letter on proposed changes, 2008, p. 1.
30 Hon. Robert C. Byrd, Chairman, and Hon. Thad Cochran, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Appropriations,
Letter to Hon. Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, and Hon. Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, in response
the proposal from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, April 5, 2008, p. 1.
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believe that consolidating authority over intelligence in a smaller group of Senators is precisely
the wrong way to improve the Senate’s oversight of intelligence.”31 The Senators added that the
separation of authorization and appropriations functions should be maintained and that
consolidating appropriations for the entire NIP in one subcommittee would have an adverse
impact on other policies, such as foreign policy, that are handled by different subcommittees.32
Despite this opposition, a formal proposal to create a new Appropriations Subcommittee on
Intelligence (S.Res. 655, 110th Congress) was sponsored initially on September 11, 2008, by the
vice chairman and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.33 In addition to placing the
two Intelligence Committee members from Appropriations on this new Appropriations
Subcommittee on Intelligence, S.Res. 655 would also have added the chairman and ranking
member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and, as ex officio members, the chairman
and vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee. In introducing the resolution, Senator Bond
emphasized that “on the seventh anniversary of 9/11, it is noteworthy that there remains one
unaddressed 9/11 commission recommendation, and that is to reform the legislative branch’s
oversight of intelligence and terrorism activities which the commission rightly described as
‘dysfunctional’.”34 As an alternative to the “bolder” 9/11 commission recommendations, which
had been rejected, the Senator argued that “many of us believe there is a better, less disruptive
way to achieve reform through a carefully constructive intelligence appropriations
subcommittee.”35 Another proposal along this line appeared in the House but would have affected
both chambers. H.R. 334, 110th Congress, would have required each chamber to establish an
Appropriations Subcommittee on Intelligence with jurisdiction over intelligence and intelligence-
related activities.
A different proposal (S.Res. 164) has been introduced in the 111th Congress. Following the 9/11
Commission recommendation, it would transfer appropriations power to the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence. The resolution’s sponsor, Senator Russell Feingold, noted that “this
effort to reform and improve congressional oversight has a long bipartisan history,” recognizing
earlier plans to accomplish this from Senators John McCain and Richard Burr, two of the 2009
proposal’s co-sponsors.36
House Action
In the House, the option to consolidate authority—by reserving seats for Intelligence Committee
members on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee—was raised at the end of the 109th
Congress by Representative Nancy Pelosi, then House Minority Leader and presumptive Speaker
of the House in the 110th Congress.37 The final product was a variation on this theme. H.Res. 35
(110th Congress), which passed the House on January 9, 2007, created a new Select Intelligence

31 Ibid., p. 2.
32 Ibid.
33 S.Res. 655, 110th Cong., 2nd sess., introduced by Hon. Christopher S. Bond, for himself, and Hon. John D.
Rockefeller and Hon. Sheldon Whitehouse, “Senate Resolution 655—To Improve Congressional Oversight of the
Intelligence Activities of the United States,” Congressional Record, vol. 154, September 11, 2008, pp. S8416-S8417.
34 Ibid., p. S8418.
35 Ibid., p. S8419.
36 Hon. Russell Feingold, Statement on behalf of S.Res. 164, 111th Congress, 1st sess., June 2, 2009, Congressional
Record
, vol. 155, pp. S5950-S5951.
37 Sources in footnote 23.
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Oversight Panel on the Appropriations Committee. It consists of 13 members, with an eight-to-
five inter-party ratio; three of the members are representatives from the Intelligence Committee
joining 10 from appropriations, including the chairman and ranking minority member of the full
committee, the chairman and ranking minority member of the Defense Subcommittee, and six
additional members from appropriations. This special panel is authorized to study and make
recommendations to all appropriations subcommittees on relevant areas, specifically the annual
intelligence appropriations to the Defense Subcommittee, which retains authority to report it to
the full committee.
In the 110th Congress, a bill (H.R. 334) was introduced that would have taken the proposal
further. Instead of an advisory panel, H.R. 334 would have required each chamber to establish by
law a separate Subcommittee on Intelligence in its Appropriations Committee, with
appropriations jurisdiction over intelligence and intelligence-related activities.38 No further action
occurred on the bill.
Concerns about Restructuring the Intelligence Committees
The set of changes producing a restructured and strengthened Intelligence Committee in each
chamber, as called for by the 9/11 Commission, might also generate concerns and criticisms. A
new standing committee—smaller than the existing select committees in each chamber (if
combined), with representation from four standing committees with overlapping membership and
indefinite tenure for its members—would substantially reduce (1) the number of Members in each
chamber serving on an intelligence panel at any one time; (2) the number of at-large seats
available; (3) the number of vacancies available over time; and, thus, (4) the likelihood of a
Member finding a seat on the committee. These changes in tandem would also lead to fewer
former members from the committee, thus, reducing the ability of the full chamber and non-
members to be knowledgeable about how the intelligence community operates and intelligence
policy; and it could result in a decline of the ability to question if not challenge the committee (as
well as the executive). Arguably, this could result in the prospect of a closed system, making it
easier for the intelligence panels to dominate the agenda and debate in their respective chambers
and in the full Congress.
A second set of cautions might surround the proposed new authority, particularly, adding
appropriations to its authorizing control and independent subpoena power. Such subpoena
authority, which could cover either or both materials and individual testimony, would be held
(and used) without needing approval in each instance by the chamber. This might be seen as
infringing on an important full-chamber power and removing a check on this particular
committee, which would be already subject to fewer constraints than the current select
committees have.
The addition of appropriations approval would apparently produce a unique situation in the
contemporary Congress and a rarity in its entire history. A reversal of this plan—placing
Intelligence Committee members on the defense appropriations subcommittee—also appears to
be a rare, if not unprecedented action; this revamped panel could better coordinate and
complement the actions of both committees. This change, moreover, could indirectly increase the
power of the select committee. By reserving seats for its members on the relevant appropriations

38 See Honorable Michael Castle, 2009 Intelligence Authorization Act Needs More Oversight, Press release, July 17,
2008, available at http://www.castle.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=106799.
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subcommittee, the Intelligence Committee would play a more direct and influential role in
appropriating IC funds than it does now. At this time, no other committee has a comparable
guarantee of seats on a relevant appropriations subcommittee. Consequently, the left-out
authorizing committees, particularly those dealing with sensitive national security matters, might
make the same appeal as intelligence: that is, to have seats reserved on the appropriate
appropriations subcommittee. Following either avenue, the intelligence panel’s power would be
enhanced if it held both appropriations and authorization authority, either directly or indirectly
(via its members on the defense appropriations subcommittee).
In either event, however, the intelligence panel might be perceived as too powerful. It would hold
two impressive and reinforcing authorities and would no longer be subject to a check and
competition from a significant outside source (i.e., the Appropriations Committee in its chamber).
At the same time, the transfer of appropriations would remove an important part of the
Appropriations Committees’ jurisdiction. Reserving seats for Intelligence Committee members on
defense appropriations could also reduce competing viewpoints and an independent check on IC
appropriations. Either change might encourage other authorizing committees to request the same
treatment, that is, to control both appropriations and authorizations. Although the appropriations
and authorization processes are parallel to one another, they are not identical and not always
reinforcing or complementary. The combined authority could result in substantially more work
for the Intelligence Committee in each session, with the need to “scrub” the intelligence budget
twice each year. Or, alternatively, the transfer could lessen its examination of the appropriations
and authorization, if each were to occur only in alternate sessions within a single Congress. The
potential increase in the panel’s workload could have two adverse ramifications: (1) short-change
either the appropriations or authorization process, or both; or (2) reduce the panel’s time for other
legislative and oversight efforts.
By comparison to these two proposed changes—consolidating authorization and appropriations in
the Intelligence Committee or reserving seats on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee for
Intelligence Committee members—the establishment of the special intelligence oversight panel
on the House Appropriations Committee is more limited in its impact. Only three of its 13 seats
are reserved for Intelligence Committee members; and the new panel can only make
recommendations to the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which continues to report the
annual intelligence community appropriations.
Improving Coordination Between the Two Intelligence Panels
Such changes would affect the Intelligence Committees’ individual structure and powers. Others
could be designed to increase coordination and shared responsibility between the two intelligence
panels—so as to avoid duplication, encourage cooperation, develop working relationships across
chambers, enhance understanding, and share expertise, information, and knowledge—while at the
same time, maintaining the distinct characteristics of each panel. These might include joint
hearings and cross-committee leadership meetings, which may already exist on a regular basis.
Joint Hearings
One option along these lines is to schedule joint hearings for relatively routine and regular
matters, such as the initial annual authorization briefings from the Executive. Another opportunity
for a joint session would occur when the inspectors general in the intelligence community,
especially at the CIA, submit their semiannual reports to Congress. These shared enterprises
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could allow the combined membership to receive the same information and data as each panel
would individually, establish working relationships among the two groups of members, encourage
cross-fertilization among them, and reduce duplication for the Executive. Of course, follow-up
hearings could be handled separately by the two panels and may even be stimulated by such joint
efforts. The shared experience over the initial budget submission could also help to avoid
duplication of effort over some modest matters, while helping to set priorities for more significant
ones.
Joint hearings could also be conducted into critical events, as they were with the select
Intelligence Committees combined inquiry into 9/11 attacks.39 Another example of an inquiry
with panels from both chambers was the Iran-contra affair, an investigation conducted by two
temporary committees working together and issuing a joint report.40
Leadership Meetings
Another means of encouraging inter-chamber cooperation is for the leadership of the two panels
to meet regularly to discuss issues, concerns, and priorities (recognizing, of course, the practical
and political limitations on such exchanges). These efforts might include only the full committee
chairs or might extend to subcommittee heads and majority and minority members. These
sessions could be supplemented by meetings of senior staff on both panels, at the direction of the
leadership. Whatever the arrangement, a number of different opportunities exist to enhance
awareness of common concerns and cooperation in examining them between the two panels.
Constraints on Coordination
Coordination between two panels from different chambers may encounter practical and political
problems. Scheduling meetings and hearings, especially if a large number of members is
involved, for instance, runs into several hindrances. These include (1) different priorities and
meeting arrangements for each committee; (2) competing chamber and committee responsibilities
for Members, especially Senators, each of whom serve on more committees than Representatives;
and (3) different electoral and campaign requirements, which affect the demands on Members and
the time they spend in the capital. In addition, rival political affiliations and policy stands, along
with competition between the chambers for influence over public policy, might make cooperative
ventures few and far between.
Enhancing Interchanges with Other Panels and Members
Other approaches to increasing the powers of each panel and their cooperative ventures might be
considered: ease the exchange of information with non-committee members, allow for more
oversight by other committees, and/or increase contacts among members of the appropriations
and authorizing panels. Along these lines, the 9/11 Commission wrote: the “new committee or

39 U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint
Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001
, S.Rept.
107-351 and H.Rept. 107-792, 107th Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington: GPO, 2002).
40 U.S. Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition, and U.S. House
Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, Report on the Iran-Contra Affair, S.Rept. 100-
216 and H.Rept. 100-433, 100th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington: GPO, 1987).
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committees should conduct studies of the activities of the intelligence agencies and report
problems relating to the development and use of intelligence to all members of the House and
Senate.”41
Placing Intelligence Committee members on the defense appropriations subcommittee or on a
special appropriations intelligence oversight panel, as the House has done, also eases interchanges
between these two committees. Other ways of increasing coordination between the appropriations
and authorizing committees—through formalized member and staff involvement in the other
panel’s hearings, for instance—have been advanced in the Senate, as noted above.
Goals
This type of change could reduce the challenge of intelligence oversight on the select committees,
bring different viewpoints to bear on intelligence matters, expand the knowledge of Members not
on the panels, and allow for their informed judgments on intelligence policy and programs as well
as on committee activities and operations. Strict controls over the classified information would
have to be maintained. The current committee rules—which on the House side are more stringent
than on any other committee—might be modified to accommodate additional sources for review
and oversight. Such a revision could begin with a comparison of access controls by other panels,
particularly the committees with overlapping membership. In addition, House and Senate
chamber rules authorizing secret or closed sessions might be used more often to allow for an open
exchange of information between the Intelligence Committees and all the Members of a particular
chamber. Along with this, committee members might be allowed to present “declassified”
versions of sensitive or otherwise classified reports to their colleagues, in secret or open sessions.
Techniques
Several potential techniques to expand non-committee involvement and non-member access to
information follow:
• Ensure that relevant information is appropriately and expeditiously shared with
committees with overlapping membership.
• Give greater allowance for other committees to conduct oversight of intelligence
components, activities, and programs, including standing committees without
overlapping membership.42
• Ease access for non-members to Intelligence Committee holdings, by reducing
the exacting requirements over the availability of the classified.
• Encourage the Intelligence Committees, on their own initiative, to share
information as appropriate with the full membership of their house.
• Make more information available to non-members by securing declassification of
certain intelligence reports or by providing classified and declassified versions of
IC reports (for the committees and for the general membership, respectively); the
agencies proper or their inspectors general (charged with preventing and

41 9/11 Commission, Report, p. 420.
42 See especially House Subcommittees on Efficiency and on National Security, CIA Refusal, 2001.
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detecting waste, fraud, and abuse) might do either or both, possibly at the request
or directive of the Intelligence Committees.
Limitations
Interchanges between the Intelligence Committees, on the one hand, and other panels and
Members, on the other, might be limited for several reasons. Concerns about the unauthorized
disclosures of classified information might be raised as the possibility of leaks rises, because of
the increased number of individuals with access to sensitive information. Along with this,
intelligence agencies would likely be reluctant to respond to congressional requests for sensitive
and classified information, even from the Intelligence Committees, if the agencies anticipate that
all or some of it will be disclosed outside the sequestered Intelligence Committee rooms, possibly
to the floors of both houses.
Another possibility, which might retard information-sharing by the Intelligence Committees,
could be a concern about a reduction in their control over the intelligence agenda and debate. As
more Members and panels became familiar with the relevant information and policies, more
questions might arise relating to the committees’ policy positions. This development might be
seen as weakening the committees, a condition that might reduce their (and, in turn, Congress’s)
influence over intelligence agencies and policies in dealings with the Executive.
Other Options
Several other options could enhance congressional oversight over the Intelligence Community.
Using Congressional Support Agencies
Increase Their Use
One approach is to increase the use of the legislative support agencies—Congressional Budget
Office, Congressional Research Service, and Government Accountability Office (GAO), formerly
the General Accounting Office—where appropriate.43
Clarified Authority for GAO to Audit the IC
A supplemental proposal would be to clarify and expand GAO’s authority to audit, evaluate, or
investigate components of the Intelligence Community, including the CIA. This concept was
incorporated in both the House and Senate versions of the FY2010 Intelligence Authorization Act,
building on proposals in its predecessor to accomplish this.44 The House and Senate versions

43 The oversight roles of the support agencies are spelled out in CRS Report RL30240, Congressional Oversight
Manual
, by Frederick M. Kaiser et al.
44 H.R. 2701 and S. 1494, 111th Congress, 1st sess. See also U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,
Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, H.Rept. 111-186, 111th Congress, 1st sess., sec. 335 (Washington,
GPO, 2009); and U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010,
S.Rept. 111-55, 111th Congress, 1st sess., sec. 335 (Washington, GPO, 2009). For action in the 110th Congress on
similar plans, see the Intelligence Community Audit Act, H.R. 978 and S. 82, 110th Congress. Hearings and press
coverage include U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the
(continued...)
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differ, however. The House provision calls on GAO to respond to requests from the select
committees on intelligence in conducting audits or investigations, while the Senate version
extends the coverage to any congressional committee with jurisdiction over an IC component and
for certain specified purposes, such as financial management, information technology, and
information sharing.
The Obama Administration has opposed the proposal for enhanced GAO audit powers, however,
insisting that
Section 335 would fundamentally shift the long-standing relationship and information flow
between the IC and intelligence committee members and staff .... The Administration would
welcome the opportunity to more fully address this matter before fundamental changes to the
oversight process are legislated.45
These and similar proposals, which date to the mid-1970s, are the result of a fundamental
disagreement between GAO and the IC with regard to the office’s authority and jurisdiction over
all of them. GAO possesses nearly unfettered jurisdiction to audit and investigate the federal
government. GAO’s access, however, may be precluded in certain situations: by the President, if
it involves sensitive or classified records, such as foreign intelligence and counterintelligence
activities; in instances where records are statutorily exempted from disclosure; or in cases where
an executive agency holds competing powers which are used to prevent GAO access.46
The last of these obstacles to full access has led to conflicts between GAO and the IC, particularly
the CIA.47 The CIA views its own statutory authority as keeping it off-limits to independent GAO
audits and investigations. Under this interpretation, the CIA has declined to participate in GAO
reviews (as well as in some congressional oversight hearings held by panels other than the Select
Committees on Intelligence); and the Agency has, on occasion, attempted to enlist other
components to do the same.48 In contrast to the CIA’s position, however, other IC entities have

(...continued)
District of Columbia, Government-wide Intelligence Community Reform, hearing, 110th Congress, 2nd sess., Feb. 29,
2008 (Washington, GPO, 2008); Chris Strom, “Panel witnesses press for GAO audits of intelligence agencies,”
Government Executive, available at http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?filepath=/dailyfed/0208/
022908cdpm2.htm, February 29, 2008; and Paul Kane, “GAO Seeks Review of Spy Agencies,” Washington Post, Mar.
7, 2008, p. A15.
45 U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 2701—Intelligence Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2010
, July 8, 2009, p. 2.
46 Statutory citations for such restrictions include Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949, 63 Stat. 213; General
Accounting Office Act of 1980, 94 Stat. 311; 31 U.S.C. 716(d); and 31 U.S.C. 716(b) and 3524(c).
47 GAO is limited in its independent authority to audit and investigate the CIA, because of provisions in public law and
congressional rules as well as tradition and precedents. The CIA, however, is the only intelligence component which
makes such an across-the-board claim. See GAO, Central Intelligence Agency: Observations on GAO Access to
Information on CIA Programs and Activities
, statement by Henry J. Hinton, GAO-01-975T (Washington: GAO, 2001);
Information Sharing, GAO-06-385, (Washington: GAO, 2006), pp. 6-7;and DOD Personnel Security Clearances,
Letter to Hon. George V. Voinovich, Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, June
14, 2006, p. 1. See also U.S. House Government Reform Subcommittees on Government Efficiency and on National
Security, Is the CIA’s Refusal to Cooperate with Congressional Inquiries a Threat to Effective Oversight of the Federal
Government
, hearings, 107th Cong., 1st sess (Washington: GPO, 2001); Frederick M. Kaiser, “GAO Versus the CIA:
Uphill Battles Against an Overpowering Force,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, vol. 15
(2002), pp. 330-389; and CRS Report RL30349, GAO: Government Accountability Office and General Accounting
Office
, by Frederick M. Kaiser.
48 See House Government Reform Subcommittees on Government Efficiency and National Security, CIA’s Refusal to
Cooperate
, pp. 1-8. The subcommittee chairmen emphasized that the CIA had initially agreed to participate in a GAO
(continued...)
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not asserted the same proscription against GAO audits. For instance, the Department of Defense,
which houses the largest number of intelligence units, has issued the following instructions:
It is DoD policy that the Department of Defense cooperate fully with the GAO and respond
constructively to, and take appropriate corrective action on the basis of, GAO reports .... [But
DoD is also to] be alert to identify errors of fact or erroneous interpretation in GAO reports,
and to articulate the DoD position in such matters, as appropriate.49
GAO has taken exception to the CIA’s position, emphasizing that the Office has authority to audit
the Agency independently but lacks enforcement power.50 If enacted, the new provision would
change this situation.
Applying GPRA Requirements to the CIA
A different scheme would affect the executive directly: place the CIA expressly under the
requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act, commonly referred to by its
initials (GPRA) or as the Results Act. This 1993 enactment emphasizes assessing agencies based
on outcomes (that is, their performance and results) rather than outputs (for instance, meeting
certain deadlines, quotas for issuing grants, or expenditure levels).51 The CIA remains the only
significant explicit exemption to GPRA’s mandates. These include developing a broad mission
statement; a five-year strategic plan flowing from it; an annual performance plan, setting specific
objectives and ways to carry out the strategic plan; and a follow-up evaluation of the agency’s
accomplishments, failures to meet expectations, and reasons for both. These GPRA reports from
the CIA could be submitted to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in a classified
version.

(...continued)
survey of computer security programs but later declined. The Agency also attempted, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to
have other IC entities follow suit. Finally, the CIA declined to participate in any of the subcommittees’ hearings or
meetings, even if held in executive or secret session.
49 Department of Defense Instruction 7650.02, November 20, 2006.
50 Elaboration of GAO’s support for such new authority and the DNI’s (and the previous DCI’s) opposition appears in
letter from David M. Walker, Comptroller General, to Hon. John D. Rockefeller, Chairman, and Hon. Christopher S.
Bond, Vice Chairman, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, March 1, 2007; and letter from J. M. McConnell,
Director of National Intelligence, to Hon. John D. Rockefeller, Chairman, and Christopher S. Bond, Vice Chairman,
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, March 7, 2007. See M.Z. Hemingway, “GAO wants more muscle,” Federal
Times
, March 26, 2007, p. 1; and “GAO Seeks Greater Role in Oversight of Intelligence,” Secrecy News, October 3,
2007, available at http://www.fas.org. For the competing views of the disputes over independent GAO access, which
date to the earliest days of the CIA, see U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, DCI Affirmation of Policy for Dealing with
the General Accounting Office (GAO)
, Memorandum for the Director of Central Intelligence, from Stanley L.
Moskowitz, Director of Congressional Affairs, 7 July 1994; GAO, Central Intelligence Agency: Observations on GAO
Access to Information on CIA Programs and Activities
, statement of Henry J. Hinton, GAO-01-975T (2001); letters
from the Comptroller General to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), April 27, 2006, and to the Chairman and
Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, May 15, 2006,
disputing the DNI’s position that the “review of intelligence activities is beyond the GAO’s purview,” as stated in
Information Sharing, GAO-06-385 (2006), pp. 6 and 71.
51 P.L. 103-62, 107 Stat. 285.
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Enhancing the Inspectors General
A different set of alternatives would bring about changes in offices of inspector general (OIGs).
These are statutorily created in executive “establishments” (all the cabinet departments and larger
federal agencies) and “designated federal entities” (the usually smaller boards, commissions,
foundations, and government corporations) to combat waste, fraud, and abuse and to keep the
agency head and Congress fully and currently informed about these matters.52 One change
occurred through passage of the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008; it eases and increases
coordination among the IGs through a new Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and
Efficiency, which includes the IGs from the CIA and the Departments of Defense, Justice, and
State, among more than sixty agencies.53
Another proposal would establish a new post of inspector general with comprehensive
jurisdiction over the IC. Located in the ODNI, the new IG would be appointed by the President,
with Senate confirmation, and could be removed only by the President.54 The IG’s powers would
be comparable—but not identical—to the establishment IGs. Notwithstanding its overarching
jurisdiction, the new office would not replace the existing counterparts in various departments
and agencies, except for the one currently in the ODNI. The IC inspector general, however, would
have authority to resolve jurisdictional conflicts among them and otherwise coordinate their
reviews, audits, and investigations.55 The Obama Administration issued the following statement
about the addition of an IC-wide IG.:
The Administration supports the important work undertaken by Inspectors General .... and
would like to work with the Congress on the optimal approach and authorities for carrying
out the important functions of Inspectors General in the context of the IC.56
Other recommendations involving IGs have been advanced in the past. These would have added
statutory IG in four DOD agencies, not just in NSA,57 and would have augmented the authority,
jurisdiction, independence, and reporting requirements of the IG in the ODNI.58

52 Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended; 5 U.S.C. Appendix.
53 P.L. 110-409; 122 Stat. 4305-4313.
54 Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, H.R. 2701, sec. 406, and S. 1494, sec. 407. The current proposal
mirrors ones offered in the two previous congresses. The FY 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act (H.R. 2082, 110th
Cong.) was vetoed by President Bush and his veto sustained. Congressional Record, vol. 154, March 11, 2008, pp.
H1503-H1514. A similar recommendation was included in the FY2009 Intelligence Authorization Act (H.R. 5959,
110th Cong.), also meeting objections from the Bush Administration. See U.S. Office of Management and Budget,
Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 5959—Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2009, July 6, 2008.
55 H.R. 2701, sec. 406, and S. 1494, sec. 407.
56 OMB, Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 2701 (2009), p. 2.
57 The FY 2009 Intelligence Authorization Act (H.R. 5959, 110th Cong.), reiterating sections of the (vetoed) FY2008
bill, would place four DOD intelligence entities—the National Reconnaissance Office, Defense Intelligence Agency,
National Security Agency, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency—under the Inspector General Act of 1978,
as amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix). These agencies would be the equivalent of “designated federal entities,” that is,
entities whose IGs are appointed by and removed by the agency head. In addition, the Secretary of Defense would be
able to prevent or halt an audit or investigation, if the Secretary or DNI determined that such a prohibition would be
necessary to protect vital U.S. national security interests. The House and Senate Committees on Armed Services and on
Intelligence would have to be notified of such an exercise by the Secretary of Defense.
58 The DNI, under authority establishing the post and office (P.L. 108-458), has complete discretion to create and
construct an OIG in his Office, based on provisions he selects from the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended. In
2006, the director established an inspector general post in his office. U.S. Office of the Director of National
(continued...)
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Observations on Oversight of Intelligence
Obstacles to Oversight
Congressional oversight of intelligence meets obstacles that are not usually present in other
areas.59
Secrecy Constraints
The most significant constraint is the high degree and pervasiveness of secrecy surrounding
intelligence policy, information, activities, operations, resources, and personnel. For Congress,
this means that the legislature, its committees, and its Members are circumscribed in a number of
ways: what they know; who receives the information, how, and in what form and forum; who
provides it; what information can be shared with other Members and panels, how, and in what
detail; and what non-governmental sources can contribute to legislators’ knowledge, to what
degree, and in what ways.
The secrecy imperative results in a system that is often closed to outsiders—not just the general
public but also Representatives and Senators who do not have seats on the select committees on
intelligence. The impact of official secrecy is evident in the restrictions on access to and
disclosure of classified information in the panels’ custody as well as on restraints covering what
the select committee members themselves can discuss outside its confines.60 These restrictions
and their demanding requirements not only slow down or prevent access by non-members,
because of an anticipated lengthy delay in complying with the procedures, but might also harbor a
“chilling effect” for some, because of the strict limitations on disclosure and use of the
information among colleagues outside the Intelligence Committees. As noted above, moreover,
other access controls adopted by the executive set limits on the Government Accountability
Office, Congress’s chief audit and investigative agency.
The impacts and implications of secrecy are extensive and burdensome. The 9/11 Commission
summarized the effects this way: “Secrecy stifles oversight, accountability, and information
sharing.”61

(...continued)
Intelligence, Report on the Progress of the DNI in Implementing the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004, May 2006. In the
meantime, however, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have raised questions about the IG’s independence,
capabilities, jurisdiction, and reporting to Congress. U.S. Congress, House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence, Intelligence Authorization Act for 2007, H.Rept. 109-411, 109th Cong., 2nd sess.
59 See CRS Report R40240, Intelligence Authorization Legislation: Status and Challenges, by Richard A. Best Jr.; and
CRS Report RL32617, A Perspective on Congress's Oversight Function, by Walter J. Oleszek.
60 CRS Report R40691, Sensitive Covert Action Notifications: Oversight Options for Congress, and CRS Report
R40698, “Gang of Four” Congressional Intelligence Notifications, both by Alfred Cumming.
61 9/11 Commission, Report, p. 24.
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Perceived Limited Appeal of Intelligence Oversight
Along with this is the perceived limited appeal of overseeing intelligence and making intelligence
policy, including authorizing the budget. This view appears because congressional efforts in
overseeing and authorizing intelligence activities remain largely hidden and may have only
marginal direct effects on Members’ constituencies, districts, or states.62
Overcoming the Obstacles
Objectives and Goals
The impact of these limitations on Congress’s oversight of intelligence is that it is significantly
more difficult than in other fields. And the usual incentives for Members to serve on certain
committees and conduct oversight appear to be more modest or even non-existent for intelligence.
Steps have been taken, however, to increase Congress’s ability to overcome these hurdles.
Prospects along this line include (1) heightening the appeal of serving on the intelligence panel;
(2) enhancing the expertise and knowledge of Members (both on and off the panels); (3)
reinforcing the shared responsibilities between an Intelligence Committee, on the one hand, and
panels with overlapping memberships, on the other; (4) expanding the contacts and coordination
between the intelligence authorizers and appropriators; (5) changing the relationship between the
two chambers on intelligence matters, through, for instance, a joint committee or increased
contacts between the existing committees; and (6) developing new connections between Congress
and the executive that could lend themselves to more effective oversight.
A Joint Committee on Intelligence and Alternatives
Growing out of these goals are a number of recommendations to strengthen oversight of
intelligence, which have arisen since the genesis of the modern intelligence community six
decades ago. Recent ones have come from the 9/11 Commission, which proposed two distinct
alternatives. One was to create a joint committee on intelligence. Yet over the years, the drafts for
a JCI have differed in important respects: membership, leadership, jurisdiction, authority, staffing,
and controls over classified information, among other matters. Moreover, rationales for a JCI
have met with competing objections and concerns.
A second major option advanced by the 9/11 Commission was to enhance the powers and status
of the Intelligence Committee in each house, along with realigning committee jurisdiction over
intelligence appropriations, with the prospect of merging authorizing and appropriations in one
committee in each chamber: namely, the Select Committees on Intelligence. The Senate—in
S.Res. 445 (108th Congress), approved October 9, 2004—followed this path, but only part of the
way, when it removed the term limits on serving on its intelligence panel and reduced the number
of members. In separate action, leaders on the Senate Intelligence and Appropriations Committees
issued a Memorandum of Agreement in 2006, designed to improve coordination and transparency
between the two panels. In the meantime, the Senate Intelligence Committee leaders advanced a
proposal to create an Appropriations Intelligence Subcommittee. It would have comprehensive

62 Ibid., pp. 420-421.
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jurisdiction for the intelligence budget and its membership would include Intelligence Committee
members who are already on Appropriations, the chairman and ranking minority member of the
Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and the chairman and vice chairman of the Intelligence
Committee as ex officio members. The Senate Appropriations Committee leaders, however,
opposed this plan. The House has traveled a different route. It created a Select Intelligence
Oversight Panel on its Appropriations Committee, to serve as an advisory body, which includes
members of the Intelligence Committee.
Other Proposals
Other approaches to change legislative oversight of intelligence have been proposed, including
several that would affect the executive directly as well as Congress’s own capabilities. Among
these are proposals to increase the use of congressional support agencies; clarify access for GAO
to audit intelligence community elements, particularly the CIA; require the CIA to meet the
GPRA planning and reporting obligations, as other IC components must do; and establish a new
IG with jurisdiction over the entire IC as well as ones in certain Defense Department intelligence
agencies.

Author Contact Information


Frederick M. Kaiser

Specialist in American National Government
fkaiser@crs.loc.gov, 7-8682


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