Feingold Efforts Strengthen National Security, Save Taxpayer Dollars Washington, D.C. – Today, major intelligence reforms sponsored by U.S. Senator Russ Feingold were signed into law by President Obama to help strengthen national security and save taxpayer dollars. The Feingold provisions were included in the Fiscal Year 2010 intelligence authorization bill. They included bipartisan legislation, originally introduced by Feingold and former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), to help close gaps in global intelligence coverage and in our ability to anticipate terrorist and other threats. Feingold is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“This bipartisan legislation will improve the way our government collects and analyzes information around the world so we can better anticipate, and respond to, terrorist and other threats," Feingold said. "This will help ensure that we stay a step ahead of al Qaeda’s global network."
Critical provisions from Feingold’s
Control Spending Now Act were also signed into law that will save taxpayer dollars by requiring reporting on the costs of intelligence programs, including a provision he initially co-sponsored with the Vice Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Kit Bond (R-MO), to require reports on and justifications for cost overruns.
“With my Control Spending Now Act provisions, Congress will get a more complete look at the full costs of classified intelligence programs,” Feingold said. “My provisions will help shine light on these programs so that we can both protect taxpayer dollars and ensure that there is accountability for failures.”
The Feingold provisions signed into law today include:
- Close intelligence gaps – The bill included Feingold’s legislation to address persistent gaps in our global intelligence coverage and our ability to anticipate terrorist and other threats in advance. The legislation establishes an independent non-partisan commission that will provide recommendations on how to close these gaps through the integration of the Intelligence Community and overt collectors of information, including the State Department. The legislation was initially offered by Feingold and Hagel.
- Strengthen oversight of the legality of intelligence programs – The bill includes an amendment offered by Feingold requiring that Congress be provided the legal bases for intelligence activities.
- Reduce Intelligence Cost Overruns - Provisions to save taxpayer dollars included in Feingold’s Control Spending Now Act were also passed as part of the bill. These provisions include an amendment originally co-sponsored by Feingold and Bond and attached to the Fiscal Year 2008 bill to require the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to justify cost overruns on major acquisitions to the Congress; provisions requiring reports on the costs, vulnerabilities, and long-range budget projections for intelligence systems; and a provision ensuring accountability for failures to produce financial statements that can be audited.
Improve Intelligence Accountability – The bill includes a provision, originally co-sponsored by Feingold and Bond and attached to the Fiscal Year 2008 bill, granting the DNI the authority to conduct accountability reviews for failures and deficiencies in the Intelligence Community. The bill also included a provision directing the DNI to establish guidelines for access by the Government Accountability Office to the Intelligence Community. Feingold co-sponsored an amendment requiring GAO access and has pressed the new DNI on the issue.
Additional details about Feingold’s reforms are available
here.
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