[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 8 (Thursday, January 16, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1081-S1082]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
  S. 190. A bill to establish the Director of National Intelligence as 
head of the intelligence community, to modify and enhance authorities 
and responsibilities relating to the administration of intelligence and 
the intelligence community, and for other purposes; to the Select 
Committee on Intelligence.

[[Page S1082]]

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to offer the Intelligence 
Community Leadership Act of 2003. This legislation creates the position 
of Director of National Intelligence to provide budget and statutory 
authority over coordinating our intelligence efforts. This will help 
assure that the sort of communication problems that prevented the 
various elements of our intelligence community from working together 
effectively before September 11 never happens again.
  Today there are 14 different agencies and departments which make up 
the Intelligence Community: the Central Intelligence Agency, the 
Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National 
Reconnaissance Office, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, Army 
Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence, Marine Corps Intelligence, 
intelligence elements of the Departments of State, Treasury, Energy, as 
well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Coast 
Guard. Together they make up a huge network, with thousands of 
employees and a significant, secret, budget.
  Interestingly, there is no real head of this sprawling Community. In 
law the Director of Central Intelligence leads both the CIA and the 
Intelligence Community, but in practice he is unable to exercise 
meaningful control and leadership. The Community is plagued by acute 
turf battles, incompatible information systems and uncoordinated 
operations. The present structure makes coordination and movement of 
personnel within the Intelligence Community more difficult than it 
should be.
  Last Spring I offered legislation to address this problem, S. 2645, 
which created the position of Director of National Intelligence.
  Since then the Joint Inquiry of the Senate and House Intelligence 
Committees completed its investigations into the Intelligence Community 
role in the attacks of September 11.
  The Joint Inquiries' major recommendation was the creation of a 
``Director of National Intelligence'', DNI, with real authority to run 
the Intelligence Community, separate from the head of the CIA, and thus 
free from having to run both the Community and one of its major 
constituent agencies.
  Working with those recommendations, I have updated the bill I 
introduced last year to reflect the Joint Inquiries' findings. The 
changes include adding specific language to ensure that the new 
Director of National Intelligence has meaningful and effective budget 
and personnel authority.
  Specifically this legislation would create the new position of 
Director of National Intelligence who would head the intelligence 
community, serving at the pleasure of the President, with the proper 
and necessary authority to coordinate activities, direct priorities, 
and develop and execute the budget for our nation's national 
intelligence community.
  The DNI would be responsible for all of the functions now performed 
by the Director of Central Intelligence in his role as head of the 
intelligence community, while a separate individual would be Director 
of the CIA.
  Nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, the DNI would 
be empowered to create and execute the national intelligence budget in 
conjunction with the various intelligence agencies within our 
government.
  The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, DCIA, freed from the 
double burden as head of the intelligence community, would then be able 
to concentrate on the critical missions of the CIA alone: Assure the 
collection of intelligence from human sources, and that intelligence is 
properly correlated, evaluated, and disseminated throughout the 
intelligence community and to decision makers.
  I recognize that this bill will certainly not solve every problem 
within the intelligence community, but I believe it is an important, 
perhaps critical, first step. My hope is that introduction of this bill 
will move the much-needed debate on Intelligence Community reform 
forward.
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