The United States Code ( U.s. )

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

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

Also to reorganize the nation's military and national security system with the National Security Act in 1947 which unified the Army, Navy, and Air Force under a National Military Establishment lead by the Secretary of Defense. The National Security Act also created the Central Intelligence Agency, the nation’s major department of intelligence. The Act established the National Security Council to enlighten the President on issues mostly related to American foreign policy as well. Though the National Security Council had many improvements to make, it was able to grow in power and prestige through the involvement in the Korean War. And through the past decades it has become of great use to American foreign policy (“Foreign Affairs”).

Second what is the proper role in oversight of strategic intelligence activities, to ensuring that the policy expressed in budget and appropriations laws is being followed, to ensuring that the will of the people and the necessity of national security is being carried out properly by the executive branch of government?

“The most important innovation of the NSA, the National Security Council, was a special source of concern for President Truman, who worried that it would become a ‘‘second cabinet.’’ (Stuart 2003) The National Security Council was made up of The President of the United States, The Secretary of the State, The Secretary of Defense, The Secretary of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and The Chairman of National Security Resources Board. The NSC responsibilities were to “advise the President with respect to the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security so as to enable the military services and the other departments and agencies of the Government to cooperate more effectively in matters involving the national security.” (“National Security Act of 1947" 2009) Another important agency that came out of the National Security Act was the Central Intelligence

In reference to the foreign policy, in the mid-20th century after World War II, United States was in Cold War with Soviet Union. The United States referred as the Capitalist West and the Soviet referred as the Communist East. The two power nations clashed in many ways. Thus, Soviet accused America’s atomic bomb as leverage to control the Soviet and the world. These differences made each nation distrust each other. President Truman then, feared that the Soviet will continue its expansion, had the Congress passed the National Security Act of 1947. It gave the President increased power, where to conduct foreign policy. The Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency was created, both agencies collaborated on the monitoring

In order to extend power and responsibilities of the US Inelegance, on December 4, 1981, President Ronald Regan signed Executive Order 12333. The order empowered CIA and obliged other US federal agencies to fully cooperate with the CIA requests for information. The order is known as the United States Intelligence Activities.

Congress had a substantial issue with that because NSA was forbidden from collecting any data on American citizens, and by charter, its mission was to surveil foreigners. The President’s directive was revised, denying the NSA the National Manager role. It was not until 1987 for Congress to pass a bill, assigning the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST), under the Department of Commerce, responsibility for developing standards and guidelines for the security of Federal computer systems, drawing upon technical

Providing for the common defense means that the United States government must preserve the rights, freedom, and safety of the nation as a whole. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fulfills this goal, as the agency collects, analyzes, and processes information at an international level and utilizes the data to further bolster our nation’s intelligence and security against foreign countries. Without the CIA, we would not be able to be one of the strongest nations on the planet.

This stipulation proves that the federal government expected a great need for protection against communism during this time. Another requirement was that one employee, either the Director of Central Intelligence, the deputy Director of Central Intelligence, or the Deputy Director of Central intelligence for Community Management must be a commissioned officer of the armed forces, or have experience with military intelligence. The intertwining of the military and intelligence services was necessary to fight Cold War communism, as it was not a war in the traditional sense, with battles, but the US still needed protection against spies and potential attacks. Also established by the National Security Act was a Counterintelligence Policy Board, which coordinated national intelligence programs to chart protect against foreign threats, designate resources to programs, and provide counterintelligence options to the president. The National Security Act as a whole demonstrates that intelligence services were then considered an integral part of national security. Intelligence centered-programs gained a large say in the safety of American ideals including democracy and capitalism as Soviet espionage became a major danger in the eyes of the federal

The National Security Act of 1947 centralized command and promoted intelligence sharing between institutions by establishing a Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of Central Intelligence, and NSC. The President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of the Air Force, and Chairman of the National Security Resources Board composed the original statutory members of the NSC. The President was also authorized to designate other specified officials to the NSC. The NSC staff, which is separate from “the Council,” comprises politically appointed individuals and civil servants organized in specialized directorates. The primary function of the NSC is to advise the President on “domestic, foreign, and military policies relating to the national security.” The NSC acts as a coordinator between departments and agencies across government, and relies on accurate and insightful reports from them to develop national security policy recommendations for the President. The NSC is unique because it both consumes intelligence to make recommendations to the President, and guides intelligence activities by coordinating policies across government.

In 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Central Intelligence Agency. The act also created the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The National Security Act has helped the country in ways no regular citizen will ever know, with these agencies protecting the United States in ways unimaginable. There was one flaw with the act though, one flaw that would prove crucial in the history of the

The National Security Act signed into law on July 26, 1947 (University). This Act created a number of new structures; a National Security Council (NSC), a Department of Defense, a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (University). The military was reorganized as well the U.S. Air force was recognized as an independent entity form the Army but the Navy retained its own aviation force and prevented the Marines from being absorbed by the Army (University). This Act unified the country’s national security institutions as well as provides military leaders as well as the President of the U.S. with the most current and up-to-date information needed to make informed decisions on the state of affairs of the nation in regards to other countries (University). The

The National Security Agency mandate is to accumulate information and provide surveillance and security for the world. The National Security Agency focuses on keeping invulnerability to any outside threats and preserving the peace. The N.S.A. job is to provide “products and services to the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, government agencies, industry partners, and select allies and coalition partners”. (National Security Agency). The N.S.A. is also responsible for the “deliver[y] [of] critical strategic and tactical information to war planners and warfighters.” (National Security Agency). The job of the N.S.A. is imperative, not only to ensure safety for America, but amassing foreign intelligence data, collecting data, as

The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) was established in November 1952 to provide a cryptologic organization for the civilian and military leaders of the United States and to provide them with timely information. The National Security Agency (NSA) coordinates, directs, and performs highly specialized activities to produce foreign intelligence information and protect United States information systems through two main missions, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Information Assurance (IA). The Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) mission uses cryptologic machines to break foreign codes to find out what they know and what they are doing. The biggest accomplishment publicly