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Mr. President, I am very pleased that the Senate will be passing the fiscal year 2011 intelligence authorization bill today.
This is now the second year in a row that we have been able to pass an authorization bill, after 6 years without doing so.
The bill authorizes funding for fiscal year 2011 for the 16 different agencies across the U.S. Government that make up the intelligence community. Unlike the fiscal year 2010 bill, which was enacted last October, this bill also contains a classified annex, which is the main mechanism the Intelligence Committee has to set the level of intelligence spending and direct how it is used.
The bill adds hundreds of millions of dollars above the President's request for intelligence activities for fiscal year 2011. However, in anticipation of tighter future budgets, the bill also takes some initial steps to prepare the intelligence community for likely smaller budgets and personnel decreases in the coming years.
The bill includes a number of legislative provisions, including:
A section requiring the intelligence community to prevent another security disaster, such as the recent leaks of classified information to Wikileaks , through the implementation of automated information technology threat detection programs that must be fully operational by the end of 2013;
A provision improving the ability of government agencies to detail personnel to needed areas of the intelligence community;
A commendation of intelligence community personnel for their role in bringing Osama bin Laden to justice and reaffirming the commitment of the Congress to use the capabilities of the intelligence community to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida and affiliated organizations.
With the passage of this legislation, I believe we have restored the committee's ability to do oversight, and we are now on track to pass intelligence authorization bills each year.
I very much appreciate the close collaboration of Senator Chambliss, the vice chairman of the committee, in this effort. We have worked closely together to craft this legislation, and to secure its passage.
I also thank Chairman Rogers and Ranking Member Ruppersberger for their efforts on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. We worked well together on the fiscal year 2011 legislation to bring forward coordinated bills to the House and the Senate, and I look forward to continue to work together to enact the fiscal year 2012 intelligence authorization bill. |
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Name(s:) |
Diane Feinstein (CA-D) |
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Title: |
Chair, United States Senator |
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Agency(ies): |
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate |
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Url: |
Url Link
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Title: |
H.R. 754 (112th): Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 |
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Authoring or Creator Agency: |
govtrack.us |
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Archive Link |
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Title: |
Dianne Feinstein US Senator from California |
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Authoring or Creator Agency: |
LittleSis |
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