    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [March 8, 2008]
    [Pages 337-339]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the House of Representatives Returning Without Approval the
    ``Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008''
    March 8, 2008

    To the House of Representatives:
        I am returning herewith without my approval H.R. 2082, the
    ``Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008.'' The bill would
    impede the United States Government's efforts to protect the American
    people effectively from terrorist attacks and other threats because it
    imposes several unnecessary and unacceptable burdens on our Intelligence
    Community.
        Section 444 of the bill would impose additional Senate confirmation
    requirements on two national security positions--the Director of the
    National Security Agency and the Director of the National Reconnaissance
    Office. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
    States (9/11 Commission) observed that the effectiveness of the
    Intelligence Community suffers due to delays in the confirmation
    process; section 444 would only aggravate those serious problems. Senior
    intelligence officials need to assume their duties and responsibilities
    as quickly as possible to address the pressing requirements of national
    security. Instead of addressing the 9/11 Commission's concern, the bill
    would subject two additional vital positions to a more protracted
    process of Senate confirmation. Apart from causing such potentially
    harmful delays, this unwarranted requirement for Senate confirmation
    would also risk injecting political pressure into these positions of
    technical expertise and public trust.
        Section 413 would create a new Inspector General for the
    Intelligence Community. This new office is duplicative and unnecessary.
    Each intelligence community component already has an Inspector General,
    and the Inspector General of the Office of the Director of National
    Intelligence has been vested with all the legal powers

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    of any inspector general to carry out investigations on matters under
    the jurisdiction of the Director of National Intelligence. There is no
    reason to commit taxpayer resources to an additional inspector general
    with competing jurisdiction over the same intelligence elements.
    Creating duplicative inspectors general, who may have inconsistent views
    on the handling of particular matters, has the potential to create
    conflicts and impede the Intelligence Community from efficiently
    resolving issues and carrying out its core mission. In addition, the
    creation of a new inspector general would add yet another position in
    the Intelligence Community subject to Senate confirmation, contrary to
    the 9/11 Commission's recommendations.
        Section 327 of the bill would harm our national security by
    requiring any element of the Intelligence Community to use only the
    interrogation methods authorized in the Army Field Manual on
    Interrogations. It is vitally important that the Central Intelligence
    Agency (CIA) be allowed to maintain a separate and classified
    interrogation program. The Army Field Manual is directed at guiding the
    actions of nearly three million active duty and reserve military
    personnel in connection with the detention of lawful combatants during
    the course of traditional armed conflicts, but terrorists often are
    trained specifically to resist techniques prescribed in publicly
    available military regulations such as the Manual. The CIA's ability to
    conduct a separate and specialized interrogation program for terrorists
    who possess the most critical information in the War on Terror has
    helped the United States prevent a number of attacks, including plots to
    fly passenger airplanes into the Library Tower in Los Angeles and into
    Heathrow Airport or buildings in downtown London. While details of the
    current CIA program are classified, the Attorney General has reviewed it
    and determined that it is lawful under existing domestic and
    international law, including Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
    I remain committed to an intelligence-gathering program that complies
    with our legal obligations and our basic values as a people. The United
    States opposes torture, and I remain committed to following
    international and domestic law regarding the humane treatment of people
    in its custody, including the ``Detainee Treatment Act of 2005.''
        My disagreement over section 327 is not over any particular
    interrogation technique; for instance, it is not over waterboarding,
    which is not part of the current CIA program. Rather, my concern is the
    need to maintain a separate CIA program that will shield from disclosure
    to al Qaeda and other terrorists the interrogation techniques they may
    face upon capture. In accordance with a clear purpose of the ``Military
    Commissions Act of 2006,'' my veto is intended to allow the continuation
    of a separate and classified CIA interrogation program that the
    Department of Justice has determined is lawful and that operates
    according to rules distinct from the more general rules applicable to
    the Department of Defense. While I will continue to work with the
    Congress on the implementation of laws passed in this area in recent
    years, I cannot sign into law a bill that would prevent me, and future
    Presidents, from authorizing the CIA to conduct a separate, lawful
    intelligence program, and from taking all lawful actions necessary to
    protect Americans from attack.
        Other provisions of the bill purport to require the executive branch
    to submit information to the Congress that may be constitutionally
    protected from disclosure, including information the disclosure of which
    could impair foreign relations, the national security, the deliberative
    processes of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's
    constitutional duties. Section 326, for example, would require that the
    executive branch report, on a very short deadline and in accordance with
    a rigid set of specific statutory requirements, the details of highly
    classified interrogation techniques and the confidential legal advice
    concerning

    [[Page 339]]

    them. The executive branch voluntarily has provided much of this
    information to appropriate members of Congress, demonstrating that
    questions concerning access to such information are best addressed
    through the customary practices and arrangements between the executive
    and legislative branches on such matters, rather than through the
    enactment of legislation.
        In addition, section 406 would require a consolidated inventory of
    Special Access Programs (SAPs) to be submitted to the Congress. Special
    Access Programs concern the most sensitive information maintained by the
    Government, and SAP materials are maintained separately precisely to
    avoid the existence of one document that can serve as a roadmap to our
    Nation's most vital information. The executive branch must be permitted
    to present this information in a manner that does not jeopardize
    national security. The executive branch will continue to keep the
    Congress appropriately informed of the matters to which the provisions
    relate in accordance with the accommodation principles the Constitution
    contemplates and the executive and legislative branches have long and
    successfully used to address information sharing on matters of national
    security.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     March 8, 2008.