Wire Story
Senate intelligence chief lays out plans for oversight of intelligence reform
By Logan C. Adams
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., admitted that reorganizing the intelligence community will be difficult but rejected notions that CIA has outlived its usefulness.
Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, laid out his plans for the future of intelligence reform Thursday for an audience of about 70 people at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Roberts countered claims that the reorganization of the intelligence community would render the CIA redundant. He responded to a recent quote in the Washington Post from an “unnamed former senior intelligence official” who likened the CIA to “a wounded gazelle on the African plains” and “a pile of bleached bones.”
“It was less a reflection of a reality than it was a reflection of understandable concern, if not outright fear, of change that some in the intelligence community are experiencing,” he said. “We need change, and not just a month of change or even a year of change. We need sustained fundamental change that becomes a continuing process of adaptation to newly emerging threats.”
Roberts also spoke about the difficulties of reorganizing the intelligence community’s structure.
“We shouldn’t be surprised if a toe gets stepped on here and there as our national security agencies get more proactive in their work,” he said.
He said managing the new structure is important. “We do not want 15 different agencies tripping over each other trying to recruit the same source,” Roberts said.
The senator discussed allegations that the CIA employs torture overseas.
“Let me assure you again that the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with the House Intelligence Committee, is well aware of what the CIA is doing in the defense of our nation, and they are not torturing any detainee,” he said.
Roberts did concede that one civilian contractor who had been working for the CIA was indicted for assaulting a detainee on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan and that other cases are being investigated. He said a congressional investigation into detainee abuse is unnecessary.
“Congress actually created the CIA’s Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice to conduct these types of investigations in the first place,” he said. “I think it just makes sense if we allow them to do their work.”
The senator outlined the three main reform issues he will be focusing on: improving human intelligence collection, improving intelligence analysis and changing the current intelligence community culture of “information ownership” to one of “information access.” He does not support a system of “information sharing.”
“I believe ‘information sharing’ is a limited idea that falsely implies that the data collector is also the data owner,” he said. “It relies on the data owner to push the information to those who actually need it.” He said that to be effective, analysts with clearance should be able to pursue information from other agencies.
Finally, Roberts said that the committee will be examining the capabilities of the intelligence community to avert further mistakes like those that led to the invasion of Iraq.
“This work has already begun with an examination of the intelligence community’s capabilities, underscore the word ‘capabilities,’ with respect to Iran,” he said. “We call it pre-emptive oversight.”
By Logan C. Adams
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., admitted that reorganizing the intelligence community will be difficult but rejected notions that CIA has outlived its usefulness.
Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, laid out his plans for the future of intelligence reform Thursday for an audience of about 70 people at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Roberts countered claims that the reorganization of the intelligence community would render the CIA redundant. He responded to a recent quote in the Washington Post from an “unnamed former senior intelligence official” who likened the CIA to “a wounded gazelle on the African plains” and “a pile of bleached bones.”
“It was less a reflection of a reality than it was a reflection of understandable concern, if not outright fear, of change that some in the intelligence community are experiencing,” he said. “We need change, and not just a month of change or even a year of change. We need sustained fundamental change that becomes a continuing process of adaptation to newly emerging threats.”
Roberts also spoke about the difficulties of reorganizing the intelligence community’s structure.
“We shouldn’t be surprised if a toe gets stepped on here and there as our national security agencies get more proactive in their work,” he said.
He said managing the new structure is important. “We do not want 15 different agencies tripping over each other trying to recruit the same source,” Roberts said.
The senator discussed allegations that the CIA employs torture overseas.
“Let me assure you again that the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with the House Intelligence Committee, is well aware of what the CIA is doing in the defense of our nation, and they are not torturing any detainee,” he said.
Roberts did concede that one civilian contractor who had been working for the CIA was indicted for assaulting a detainee on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan and that other cases are being investigated. He said a congressional investigation into detainee abuse is unnecessary.
“Congress actually created the CIA’s Office of Inspector General and the Department of Justice to conduct these types of investigations in the first place,” he said. “I think it just makes sense if we allow them to do their work.”
The senator outlined the three main reform issues he will be focusing on: improving human intelligence collection, improving intelligence analysis and changing the current intelligence community culture of “information ownership” to one of “information access.” He does not support a system of “information sharing.”
“I believe ‘information sharing’ is a limited idea that falsely implies that the data collector is also the data owner,” he said. “It relies on the data owner to push the information to those who actually need it.” He said that to be effective, analysts with clearance should be able to pursue information from other agencies.
Finally, Roberts said that the committee will be examining the capabilities of the intelligence community to avert further mistakes like those that led to the invasion of Iraq.
“This work has already begun with an examination of the intelligence community’s capabilities, underscore the word ‘capabilities,’ with respect to Iran,” he said. “We call it pre-emptive oversight.”
posted by Logan C. Adams at 3/11/2005 08:30:00 PM
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