Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The House, eager to boost the nation's intelligence capabilities to prevent another terrorist attack, approved a 9 percent increase in spending Friday.
October 5, 2001
Intelligence Gets More Funding
By CAROLYN SKORNECK, Associated Press Writer"No one can seriously doubt that we need the best possible intelligence to prosper and be safe at home and abroad," said Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The bill will give the administration "the intelligence tools they will need to win this war."
Intelligence spending is generally kept secret. But the CIA revealed, after being sued by the Federation of American Scientists, that such spending totaled $26.6 billion in 1997 and $26.7 billion in 1998, said Steven Aftergood of the federation. Since then, it's been estimated at about $30 billion a year.
The House intelligence authorization bill, approved by voice vote without dissent, sought 2 percent more than President Bush requested. The Senate has not yet acted on a measure written by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The House measure places new emphasis on human intelligence - as opposed to information developed through such technology, such as satellites - increases language training and makes the Coast Guard part of the intelligence community.
But the performance of U.S. intelligence agencies leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks will not be assessed by an outside commission armed with subpoena power, as the Intelligence Committee's original bill proposed.
The attacks revealed "there are many intelligence shortcomings that need to be fixed," said Goss, and he wants the commission to focus on what fixes are needed, not finding out who is to blame for the failure to uncover the terrorists' plans.
Under his amendment, adopted by the House, a panel of people with experience in the field - but no subpoena power - would evaluate what "structural impediments" may have prevented the intelligence agencies from uncovering the attack plans in advance.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the committee's top Democrat, offered an alternative that would focus on the days before the attacks and include outside experts on the panel.
"Do you want an independent review of the events and the performance of these agencies, or do you not?" she asked. The House rejected her alternative by voice vote.
There were lots of hints of trouble brewing before Sept. 11, and the government did issue vague warnings, cautioning in May and June that U.S. citizens worldwide were at high risk of terrorist attacks. And in July, the State Department said it had "strong indications that individuals may be planning imminent terrorist actions against U.S. interests in the Arabian Peninsula."
But there were no indications of anything of the magnitude of last month's plane hijackings and suicide crashes, nor any suggestion the targets would include the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.
And it's not the first time the United States has been surprised. The intelligence agencies failed to ferret out in advance some other important events in recent years, including:
"I believe the CIA and the FBI have been not only negligent, but ... I don't think we have much of an intelligence program," said Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio.
- The Oct. 12, 2000, terrorist bombing of USS Cole as it refueled in Yemen's port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors. The United States says Saudi exile Osama bin Laden is the prime suspect.
- The car bomb explosions Aug. 7, 1998, outside U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar des Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 and wounding thousands. Bin Laden was again blamed.
- The 1998 nuclear tests by India, followed soon after by neighboring Pakistan.
- The truck bomb explosion June 25, 1996, outside the Khobar Towers in Dharan, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 American servicemen and wounded hundreds of other people. Members of a Saudi militant group, Hezbollah, were indicted.
- The World Trade Center parking garage bombing Feb. 26, 1993, that killed six and wounded more than 1,000. Six Islamic militants were convicted.
Regarding the development of human intelligence, the bill would eliminate the CIA's requirement that case officers report their recruitment of sources who may have a history of human rights problems, and would order the CIA director to establish new guidelines.
Pelosi said the current rules, supported by CIA headquarters, have hurt efforts to gain crucial information on narcotics trafficking, weapons proliferation and terrorism.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press