Congressional Oversight In this paper the subject of interest is the role of congress in the oversight of strategic intelligence, or the lack there of. Does congress have a proper role in the oversight of strategic intelligence? If not what should the proper role be? These are the questions best answered by looking at the history of congressional over sight and where it is at today. The next few pages will cover the topics above and shed light on what it is congress calls oversight. The question What is congressional oversight? Congressional oversight refers to the review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. Congress exercises this power largely through its standing committee system …show more content…
The various things the congress must insure are being handled properly are the quality of analysis, the legality of actions, operations and making sure the needs of policymakers are met. The first method is the use of the executive branch to monitor covert action and espionage. The head of the executive branch is The President himself. The President also has the power to appoint a commission to assess intelligence topics. One of the Presidents go to is the “Gang of Eight” (made up of the Senate and House Majority and Minority Leaders, and the Chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees). The use of the “Gang of Eight” allows the president to notify only them instead of the entire congressional committee. The President also has a committee known as the President’s Intelligence advisory Board. They are used to initiate analysis activities and investigations the President deems …show more content…
In 1974 when President Truman signed the National Security Act, which recognized the intelligence community and required congress be “fully informed”. In 1956 President D. Eisenhower establishes the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board to counsel the White House on the quality and adequacy of intelligence. 1976 President Ford establishes the Intelligence Oversight Board to advise the President of the legality of intelligence activities. 1977 The House of Representatives establishes the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It was not intel 1991 that congress passed the Intelligence Authorization Act, requiring the President to inform congress in writing of all covert actions undertaken by the CIA. Then the attacks of 9/11 happened and in July 2004 the 9/11 Commission released a public report of approximately 40 suggested reforms, several of which were to improve Congressional oversight of intelligence activities. The committee also stated that congress was most responsible and their dysfunctional oversight of intelligence was always dependent on newspaper headlines. This leads to January 2007 when the House responds to the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations by establishing the House Appropriations Select Intelligence Oversight
Congressional oversight is an implied power that oversights the United States Congress over the Executive Branch
Hello, Kevin. I am agree with your point that intelligence oversight is working but not at optimal. For example the 9/11 Commission concluded that many aspects of congressional oversight of the IC were “dysfunctional.” And it suggested several reforms they assessed would increase Congress’s capabilities: abolishing term limits for members of the intelligence committees so that they build their expertise to enhance their oversight abilities, combining the authorization and appropriation functions thus limiting the number of lawmakers involved and further increasing the efficacy of congressional oversight. Congress has tremendous power since it approves the fund; However, this also created opportunity for congress to abuse it if willing. Congress
Stemming from a loose interpretation of the Constitution – and specifically the necessary and proper clause -- congressional oversight is one of many enumerated powers bestowed upon Congress per Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. As the legislative body, Congress is charged with overseeing the inner workings of the Executive Branch and its federal agencies as a part of a system of checks and balances. However, as previously mentioned, this power is one of the implied powers of Congress, thus making it very difficult for many to delineate rightful oversight from reckless meandering. In the Constitution, for example, there is no singular mention of a definitive power such as “congressional oversight.” Consequently, there is no
According to Rosenbach (2009), “Congressional oversight refers to the responsibility of the legislative branch to monitor and indirectly supervise federal programs, agencies, and policies. This authority is rooted in the Constitution’s “necessary and proper” clause and the
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act give the Director of National Intelligence the responsibilities of acting as the head of the Intelligence Community; acting principle advisor for matters involving national security intelligence; manage, oversee, and direct the National Intelligence Program. This Act also requires the Director to ensure that all National intelligence based information is passed on to, first the President; all heads of departments and agencies of the executive branch; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior military commanders; and the Senate and House of Representatives and congressional committees. The Director of the Intelligence National Investigation has an office specific for him full of employees and staff members to help and discover the information needed to make the decisions regarding any and all terrorist attacks. The staff in genera includes the Community Management Staff; Co-Location is not allowed to locate anywhere else with any other intelligence agencies; Deputy Directors assists the Director and is next in line if the Director is not able to fulfill their duties;
In the long term, if they made oversight a bigger priority, implementation would be improved. I think that the style of police patrol oversight discussed in the textbook, would help with this issue. For police patrol oversight, legislators conduct usual patrols exploring the fulfillment of programs. The other style of fire alarm oversight seems like it would cause more issues, because problems would already be big before they could be solved while they were small. Generally, oversight does not get translated to voters back home and congressional leaders want to be reelected.
The National Security Council’s Office of Intelligence Programs, President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, and the Department of Defense’s Intelligence Oversight Program all are executive branch organizations that conduct intelligence oversight.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) was created by Congress in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. The role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is to provide judicial oversight of Intelligence Community activities in a classified setting. It is composed of federal judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The decisions of the court can be reviewed by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR) and the Supreme Court. After the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act of 2008, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has to rule on important and novel Fourth Amendment issues raised by the government 's proposed targeting and minimization procedures (EPIC, 2015). The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was originally composed of seven district judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to serve for a maximum of seven years. Amendments in the USA Patriot Act increased the number of judges on the Court to eleven, with three required to live within twenty miles of the District of Columbia in 2001. The Chief Justice appoints a Presiding Judge for the court from amongst these eleven judges. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court operates out of a secure location in the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., but can authorize searches or surveillance "anywhere within the United States" (EPIC, 2015). The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
After 9/11, Congress passed the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" Act (USA PATRIOT Act). The PATRIOT Act amended a number of U.S. laws and rules of procedure, including the FISA. Among other major changes, now foreign intelligence gathering need only be a "significant
Congress may have oversight in other ways too, by holding hearing and posing questions to agency heads, or imposing restrictions. Oversight allows Congress to see how agencies are implementing laws. From https://www.foreffectivegov.org/node/3462#C, Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes states, “Legislators have little time to follow the trails of expert inquiry and so we turn the whole business over to a few with broad authority to make actual rules which control our conduct. The exigency is inescapable but the guardians of liberty will ever be watchful lest they are rushed from legislative incapacity into official caprice.” Oversight is made by committees and subcommittees and is organized to monitor particular programs and agencies. Much of the actual work is done by the committee staff and there is research from Congress’ part as well.
The founding founders saw congress as the crucial institution from the law making process (Lesson 5, Roles of Congress). Bills come from citizens or members of the house or representatives and is then introduced to the committee in which the bill relates. A vote is then taken if more support it than opposed then it is passed to the senate. Oversight is an important part in this process. It is when the members continuously check on the laws that were voted and passed to see if they were used effectively and in the way intended.
The lead agency that conducts most of the U.S. intelligence oversight is Congress. This method of checks and balances is accomplished through the use
Chiefly among them was the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The aftermath of this lead to the creation of the National Intelligence Authority, a Central Intelligence Group in 1946; and subsequently enacted into law the National Security Act of 1947 that served as the organizational basis for the US conduct of the Cold War. The 1947 act also established the Central Intelligence Agency who will be responsible for the national intelligence mission (Federation of American Scientists, 1996). Also, the influence and prosecution of the cold war contributed largely into “the development of the most basic forms and practices of the U.S intelligence capability” (Lowenthal, 2014, p.16). But the "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995" was enacted in the fall of 1994 to advance and harmonize counterintelligence and security practices across the Intelligence Community, especially the FBI and CIA (Public Law, 1994).
Over the years, both state and federal governments in the United States have changed drastically to become critical domains in both foreign and domestic policies/procedures. There are more than 220 organizations in relations to defense and homeland security efforts; they are all directed by the office of the National Intelligence, which comes from the executive branch of government (HugPages, 2014). Not only is the intelligence process used to track foreign military capabilities and scrutiny of foreign government intentions, it has been evolved over the years to fit many roles needed by the United States. One of the roles the intelligence plays is weighing in on terrorist plans, proliferation of cyber threats, nuclear threats, global warming, and many other areas. This community has been crucial in helping to support the
Spying can have multiple meanings depending on a person’s perspective. For the purpose of this paper will use a neutral definition. Spying is defined as actions that are secretive, covert, yet none of these activities should include lying, fraud, or dishonesty. However, in the eyes of many spying is unethical since lying, dishonesty, corruption, and fraud can occur while spying. Nations and empires since the dawn of human history have spied on enemies and friends, for the purpose of information gathering. One of the ethical issues is whether the immorality of spying is justified when the outcome is protection of one’s nation. People will say that the quote, “the ends justifies the mean.” can be used to describe spying and its ethical dilemma.