[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 116 (Thursday, July 31, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S10644]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRAHAM of Florida (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, and Mr. 
        Rockefeller):
  S. 1520. A bill to amend the National Security Act of 1947 to 
reorganize and improve the leadership of the intelligence community of 
the United States, to provide for the enhancement of the 
counterterrorism activities of the United States Government, and for 
other purposes; to the Select Committee on Intelligence.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I am pleased to be an original 
cosponsor of the ``9-11 Memorial Intelligence Reform Act'' which 
Senator Bob Graham is introducing today to implement the 
recommendations of the Joint September 11 Inquiry of the Senate and 
House Intelligence Committees.
  I expect that this important legislation will be referred to the 
Select Committee on Intelligence, on which I serve as vice chairman. I 
am committed to working with the Chairman and our colleagues to ensure 
that the matters addressed in the bill receive the full consideration 
and action that our national security requires. I expect that other 
committees, such as the Committee on the Judiciary, will have an 
interest in some matters covered by the bill, and I look forward to 
working with them.
  The 9-11 Memorial Intelligence Reform Act covers matters ranging from 
the basic structure of the U.S. intelligence community to improvements 
in the sharing and analysis of intelligence information, reforms in 
domestic counterterrorism, and other issues identified in the course of 
the Joint Inquiry. For some matters, notably on reforming the 
leadership structure of the intelligence community, the bill proposes 
specific reforms. For various other matters, the bill calls for 
executive branch reports that can be the basis for subsequent 
congressional action.
  There are two principal aspects of our work ahead.
  The first is to systematically and thoroughly examine the steps that 
the President, the intelligence community, and other departments and 
agencies have taken to correct deficiencies in U.S. intelligence and 
counterterrorism. The Joint Inquiry's recommendations were first 
announced last December. In the months ahead, we should call on the 
agencies of the intelligence community, and other components of the 
executive branch, to report on their concrete measures, both since 
September 11 and since our recommendations were made public, to correct 
deficiencies. We should then assess those reports and Administration 
testimony in committee hearings.
  Our second task is to consider reform proposals, including those in 
Senator Graham's bill. In that regard, I should make clear that the 
answers proposed in the bill are not the last word on any of those 
subjects. They are, instead, a beginning point for the Senate's 
consideration of measures to correct the problems identified by the 
Joint 9-11 Inquiry.
  As we address these important tasks, it will be essential that the 
Congress and the American public have the benefit of the best ideas 
available. We will welcome proposals by the administration, by other 
Members of Congress, from the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks 
Upon the United States, and concerned citizens.
  Important ideas should not be bottled up anywhere. They should be put 
on the public table.
  In that regard, I urge the President to release the intelligence 
reform recommendations that former National Security Adviser Brent 
Scowcroft has made to the administration. In public testimony before 
our Joint Inquiry in September 2002, General Scowcroft testified, in 
response to a question that I asked him, that in May 2001--before 
September 11, the President had established a process to review the 
intelligence community. General Scowcroft testified that he chaired the 
external panel of that review, but that he could not get into much 
detail because his report was still classified. It is time, I believe, 
finally to declassify that report to the extent possible. The Congress 
and the American public should have the benefit of that distinguished 
public servant's insights about intelligence community reform.
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