Posted: May 28th, 2022

The creation and empowerment of the IC inserted Congress as a key player in national Intelligence and drove it to reform and migrate to a more bureaucratic structure to comply with new laws, restrictions, oversight, and reporting requirements

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Background: The creation and empowerment of the IC inserted Congress as a key player in national Intelligence and drove it to reform and migrate to a more bureaucratic structure to comply with new laws, restrictions, oversight, and reporting requirements. Congressional oversight is the responsibility of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence which provide the only routine oversight of intelligence activities outside the Executive Branch. Congress has been given oversight of the US Intelligence Community. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has 21 members. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has 15 members. There is a belief in some quarters that 36 members of Congress are too many to entrust with sensitive intelligence data given the congressional propensity for leaks to the media. This has resulted in certain intelligence issues being disclosed only to the “Gang of Eight,” which is composed of committee leadership and House and Senate leaders. This excludes 32 of the 36 committee members who maintain they cannot exercise their oversight responsibilities by being left in the dark on critical matters. Question: Is this current Congressional oversight structure and process effective in assuring proper oversight of an enterprise as large and diverse as the IC? Is there appropriate accountability of the IC in supporting the homeland security mission?

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