[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 108 (Monday, September 13, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S9102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          INTELLIGENCE REFORM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I do want to bring people up to date--and I 
will be brief--on where we are with the Senate intelligence reform 
initiatives in light of the 9/11 Commission. Over the next several 
days, we will have a very busy week. It is cut a little bit short by 
the Jewish holidays. I believe our central focus in this body, given 
the fact we have so few legislative days, must be on the security of 
the American people, and that means the bill that is currently on the 
floor that we are turning to and will be voting on one of the 
amendments at 5:30 p.m. today, the Homeland Security appropriations 
bill.
  It says ``Homeland Security'' appropriations. We have had good 
debate. We all hope to pass that bill late tomorrow night or Wednesday 
morning for sure.
  Second, we need to focus on reforming our intelligence community, 
something people do understand--broadly the American people 
understand--that is reflected in the 9/11 Commission recommendations, 
the update of that report, the discussion of that report, and we have 
responded aggressively in terms of hearings, recognizing that reform 
should be done now, not knee-jerk but deliberate reform, and begin it 
in a way that will have an impact to make our intelligence better, to 
make our intelligence sharing among our various entities better, that 
makes our oversight better.
  Last week, the leadership on both sides of the aisle, on both sides 
of the Capitol, met with the President of the United States, who 
presented his plan for reorganizing the intelligence community. It was 
a good meeting. It was a productive meeting. There was a good 
discussion by the participants. The general consensus was we need to 
respond quickly but also very responsibly, and that really is our 
charge.
  We are responding to the reform we all know needs to occur, but it 
was spelled out by the 9/11 Commission. It does not mean we should take 
every recommendation and do exactly what they said, but it means we 
need to look at those recommendations, study them, get new information, 
make them even more current, and then act on many of those 
recommendations.
  The President mentioned that they in the administration have 
addressed 36 of the recommendations. There are really two 
recommendations that apply to reorganization of this body, 39 to the 
executive branch, and the administration has addressed 36 of those 39 
recommendations.
  Before we recessed in July, Senator Daschle and I announced that the 
Governmental Affairs Committee would be the vehicle, that they would 
have the responsibility for leading the reorganization of the executive 
branch, the branch outside the legislative branch.
  For our internal reorganization, we announced a task force that is 
led by the leadership, represented by the majority whip, Senator 
McConnell, and the minority whip, Senator Reid, that would address the 
recommendations of Senate oversight.
  The McConnell-Reid task force is meeting to discuss the whole range 
of options that have been put on the table, several of which were put 
on the table by the 9/11 Commission. Indeed, there are a lot more 
options that are available to be discussed and debated, and then to 
make a proposal as to what, based on all of this input, would be most 
appropriate, most responsible for this body to do, to accomplish that 
Senate oversight of intelligence and homeland security.
  It is a bipartisan effort. When we talk about safety and security of 
the American people, politics falls aside pretty quickly. Senator 
Daschle and the Democratic leadership and the leadership on our side 
are working closely together to address the challenges before us. We 
have tapped into the expertise of the Congressional Research Service 
and other outside experts in a search for additional or other ways and 
means to improve Senate oversight.
  The McConnell-Reid task force will meet several more times over the 
coming weeks. They will be assessing the
9/11 Commission's proposals, as well as other proposals. Our goal is to 
get a resolution to the floor before the Senate adjourns on October 8.
  Meanwhile, the arm that I mentioned, the Governmental Affairs 
Committee arm, led by Senators Collins and Lieberman, continues to make 
steady progress. Last week, the Governmental Affairs Committee held a 
briefing with Robert Mueller, who is Director of the FBI, and John 
McLaughlin, who is Acting Director of the CIA. This morning they held 
another hearing with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of 
Homeland Security Tom Ridge.
  I mention all these hearings so my colleagues and the American people 
know we are aggressively addressing these issues. We can expect more 
hearings to be held this week and in the weeks ahead, culminating in a 
draft bill that will be marked up that week of September 20. The bill 
will address the 9/11 Commission's key recommendations dealing with the 
establishment of a national intelligence director--we are using that 
little acronym NID--as well as the creation of the National 
Counterterrorism Center, as well as the proposals of the reorganization 
of the executive branch.
  The committee's bill will reflect the views and the input of a number 
of Senate committees and Members of Congress, as well as proposals that 
are put forth by the President and the White House.
  I am confident that the Governmental Affairs Committee product will 
serve as a strong, comprehensive, and serious bill that will be the 
baseline for our deliberations on the floor of the Senate on September 
27. There will be a continuation of hearings. The main action on the 
Senate floor will begin soon.
  I do want to show my colleagues and the American people that the 
Senate is moving deliberately, quickly, and in this bipartisan manner 
to address these national security needs.
  As I said at the outset, our highest responsibility is to the safety, 
the security of the American people. We are working hard to meet that 
responsibility to move America forward, and I am confident we will get 
that job done. Over the course of this week, we will continue with the 
appropriations bills and, as I mentioned in my opening statement a few 
minutes ago, we are working out an agreement to address the next 
appropriations bill. Hopefully, we will be able to announce that either 
later today or tomorrow.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burns). The Senator from Florida.

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