[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 87 (Friday, July 1, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   TO CREATE A COMMISSION ON THE ROLES AND CAPABILITIES OF THE U.S. 
                         INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY

  Mr. DeCONCINI. Mr. President, I join with Senators Warner and Graham 
to introduce a bill to create a Commission on the Roles and 
Capabilities of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
  I give Senator Warner, the distinguished vice chairman of the Select 
Committee on Intelligence, and Senator Graham, who has made an 
extremely valuable contribution as a member of the Committee, the 
lion's share of the credit for this initiative. They have for some time 
now believed such an effort is needed.
  I have come to agree with them. Indeed, it had been my hope that the 
executive branch itself might have initiated such a review, but this 
has not happened, and, on reflection, I believe this bill represents a 
better way to go. A review conducted entirely within the executive 
branch would simply lack the requisite credibility.
  Mr. President, there have been significant changes in the 
intelligence community since the end of the cold war. There have been 
personnel reductions and reallocations of resources carried out by 
individual agencies.

  But what we are thus far lacking and what is, in my opinion, sorely 
needed, is an overall revalidation of the roles and capabilities of the 
intelligence community in the post-cold war world. We need to have an 
objective, hard-headed look at the fundamentals: at what we expect 
intelligence agencies to do, at what levels they should be resourced, 
at what capabilities they must retain for the future. Everything should 
be on the table.
  I do not think this can be achieved by the executive branch looking 
at itself, nor do I think the congressional oversight committees have 
the capability to do what is needed.
  What we are proposing today is a bipartisan commission with 11 
members. Seven would come from the private sector and be appointed by 
the President. Four would come from the Congress: two from the Senate 
and two from the House. The President would designate a chairman from 
among the private members. The Commission would be empowered to hire 
its own staff and not have to rely on staff from the intelligence 
agencies.
  The end result of its work would be a report to the President and the 
Congress. To the extent possible, the report would be unclassified and 
made available to the public. There would necessarily be a classified 
supplement which would could not be made public but which would be 
provided the President and the intelligence committees.
  We think the Commission should be given sufficient time to do its 
job. These are difficult issues and should not be assessed in a rush. 
The bill provides that the final report of the Commission be submitted 
by December 31, 1996, in time for the new administration--Democrat or 
Republican--to act upon its recommendations. Given the time which will 
be required for the appointment and security processing of the members 
of the Commission, we think this will allow a year and half up to 2 
years for the Commission to do its substantive work. We believe it will 
take this amount of time.
  Mr. President, in my tenure on the Intelligence Committee and in 
particular during these last 2 years when I have served as chairman, it 
has become increasingly clear to me that the political consensus that 
we once had for this function has eroded and continues to erode. We 
need a new consensus. We need a new rationale--a revalidation of the 
approach we have been taking by a group of objective, hard-headed 
people, with no ax to grind and no stake in the outcome. This is what 
we contemplate in this Commission.
  I am convinced it will serve the interests of both the executive and 
legislative branches, and urge my colleagues to support it.

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