Sen. John D. Rockefeller Iv Holds a Hearing On the Office of the Director of National Intelligence

SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE HOLDS A HEARING ON THE OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

FEBRUARY 14, 2008

SPEAKERS: SEN. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, D-W.VA. CHAIRMAN SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, D-CALIF. SEN. RON WYDEN, D-ORE. SEN. EVAN BAYH, D-IND. SEN. BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, D-MD. SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD, D-WIS. SEN. BILL NELSON, D-FLA. SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, D-R.I. SEN. HARRY REID, D-NEV. EX OFFICIO SEN. CARL LEVIN, D-MICH. EX OFFICIO

SEN. CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, R-MO. VICE CHAIRMAN SEN. JOHN W. WARNER, R-VA. SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, R-NEB. SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, R-GA. SEN. ORRIN G. HATCH, R-UTAH SEN. OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, R-MAINE SEN. RICHARD M. BURR, R-N.C. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY. EX OFFICIO SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ. EX OFFICIO

WITNESSES: DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE MIKE MCCONNELL

[*] ROCKEFELLER: My apologies to the director and to my colleagues for being late.

Our witness today appears to be the director of national intelligence, Admiral Mike McConnell. And seated behind the director are a number of his key staff and we've made space for at least three of them, in case anybody wants to leap forward to give answers, make a point during the hearing.

MCCONNELL: To save the director...

ROCKEFELLER: I would say that would be at your discretion.

Congress created the position of director of national intelligence, DNI, because most of us felt that it was no longer practical to expect the head of CIA to manage the entire U.S. intelligence community. In fact, it was self-evident. And it was a very glum period, in fact, in terms of intelligence organization. And it seems like a long time ago, but it really wasn't.

Additionally, we believe that the leader of the intelligence community needs to have more authorities than those possessed by the director of central intelligence in order to effectively manage and direct resources against the intelligence priorities and that the -- we don't know that we put everything out right or did it right, which is the point of this today.

And so the bill passed in 2004. It was a product of months of heated debate. Many aspects of it are a product of compromise rather than consensus. There were several points about which the House and the Senate could not agree.

So rather than let negotiations collapse, certain issues were left ambiguous or unresolved, which is often not helpful.

Some of us worry at that Congress may not have given the DNI enough authority to match his enormous responsibilities. I count myself in that group.

This is not to say that the authorities assigned to the position under the reform law do not give you a great deal of power. They do.

The DNI determines the budget of the intelligence community. He has the authority to transfer money and positions from one intelligence agency to another. But then that sentence needs to be explored.

How easily can that happen? What roadblocks are thrown up?

Additionally, the DNI directly operates many critical elements of the intelligence community, such as the National Counterterrorism Center, the National Counter-Proliferation Center, the National Intelligence Council, which puts out the NIEs.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is responsible for conducting oversight of the intelligence community and we take that responsibility very seriously, and I think that the director and others in the intelligence community are coming to understand that we're very oriented toward oversight. And we feel that this has n...

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