“The IAA for Fiscal Year 2021 represents the Senate Intelligence Committee’s strong, bipartisan effort to give our Intelligence Community the resources, authorities, and personnel to protect America’s national security while increasing government efficiency,” Acting Chairman Marco Rubio said. “As a nation, we face ever-expanding threats from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Our legislation is vital to the Intelligence Community, and it provides the men and women who serve our nation the tools they need to keep our country safe. At the same time, our bill represents comprehensive Congressional oversight, ensuring that these tools are executed responsibly and cost-effectively.”

“This bipartisan intelligence authorization bill ensures that the women and men of our intelligence agencies have the resources they need to do their jobs,” said Vice Chairman Mark Warner. “This bill takes key steps to improve our national security, including investments in 5G technology, reforms to our security clearance process, and important protections for whistleblowers to report wrongdoing within the IC.”

The IAA for Fiscal Year 2021 ensures that the Intelligence Community can continue its critical work for our country while Congress continues its oversight, including in the following key areas:

• Confronting our adversaries’ attempts to compromise telecommunications and cybersecurity technology;
• Development and deployment of secure 5G networks based in open-standards to compete with our adversaries;
• Identifying corruption, influence operations, and information suppression by the Chinese government, in particular in this critical time for the people of Hong Kong;
• Uncovering Russian and Eastern European oligarchs’ corruption and illegal activities;
• Protecting against foreign influence threats and election interference on social media platforms;
• Creating Intelligence Community-wide policies to facilitate sharing cleared contractor information with private companies to enhance the effectiveness of insider threat programs;
• Requiring the publication of guidelines for granting, denying, or revoking a security clearance and preventing the revocation or denial of a clearance for reasons of discrimination, political beliefs, or retaliation; and
• Advancing Intelligence Community hiring flexibilities, student loan repayment programs, and child care for IC personnel.

Source: U.S. Senate

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Chairman Burr, Vice Chairman Warner, members of the committee: Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I am here because I have been nominated to lead the extraordinary men and women at the Central Intelligence Agency – men and women who are our country’s silent warriors. These dedicated professionals spend much of their careers in difficult, far-flung outposts of the globe, striving to make our fellow Americans more secure at home. It has been the privilege of my professional life to be one of those CIA officers.

Now, I have been asked by President Trump to lead this workforce and to continue the work that Mike Pompeo and I began a little more than a year ago: ensuring that CIA is postured to meet the complex challenges our nation faces. Those challenges include a changing but still lethal threat from terrorist groups; a nuclear threat against the continental United States from a rogue state; destabilizing Iranian adventurism; an aggressive and sometimes brutal Russia; and the long-term implications of China’s ambitions on the global stage.

While these challenges are daunting and offer few easy answers, I am confident the United States and the American people have the resolve to meet them head on. If I am confirmed as Director, you have my solemn commitment that I will position this Agency to provide the intelligence support our country needs to meet the challenges of today, and those of the future.

I welcome the opportunity to introduce myself to the American people for the first time – it is a new experience for me as I spent over 30 years under cover and in the shadows. I don’t have any social media accounts, but otherwise I think you will find me to be a typical middle class American – one with a strong sense of right and wrong and one who loves this country.

I was born in Kentucky, and while my family has deep roots there, I was an Air Force “brat” and followed my father to postings all over the world. My childhood overseas instilled in me an appreciation for foreign languages and cultures, but also a deep understanding of the vital role of American leadership in confronting aggression abroad.

I joined the CIA in 1985 as an operations officer in the Clandestine Service. From my first days in training, I had a knack for the nuts and bolts of my profession. I excelled in finding and acquiring secret information that I obtained in brush passes, dead drops, or in meetings in dusty back allies of third world capitals. I recall my first foreign agent meeting was on a dark, moonless night with an agent I’d never met before. When I picked him up, he passed me the intelligence and I passed him extra money for the men he led. It was the beginning of an adventure I had only dreamed of.

The men who ran CIA in those days leaned forward in giving me the right opportunities to succeed or fail. When a very tough, old school leader announced that I was his pick to be Chief of Station in a small but important frontier post, a few competitors complained to me directly “why would they send you?” I owe that leader much for believing in me at a time when few women were given these opportunities. While I could have done without the long nights, sleeping on the floor of my station, I was proud of the work we did there including the successful capture of two major terrorists, a counterproliferation operation that went our way, and the dismantlement of a local terrorist cell.

Altogether, I have served seven tours in the field—four as Chief of Station—including hardship assignments in distant posts and, more recently, in the capital of a major US ally.

By any standard, my life at the Agency – and it has been my life – has exceeded all of my expectations, from that January day when I took my oath to today. There were few senior women leading at CIA in those days, and we are stronger now because that picture is changing. I did my part – quietly and through hard work – to break down those barriers. And I was proud to be the first woman to serve as the number-two in the Clandestine Service. It is not my way to trumpet the fact that I am a woman up for the top job, but I would be remiss in not remarking on it – not least because of the outpouring of support from young women at CIA who consider it a good sign for their own prospects.

My experience and success as an operations officer led to three leadership positions in the Clandestine Service, and one year ago, I was asked to serve as Deputy Director of CIA. The reaction of the workforce to a rare nomination of one of their own to be Director – someone who has been in the trenches with them – has been overwhelming. I am humbled by their confidence that I can successfully lead this Agency and inspired to work harder than ever to maintain that mutual trust.

They know that I don’t need time to learn the business of what CIA does. I know CIA like the back of my hand. I know them, I know the threats we face, and I know what we need to be successful in our mission.

I have played a leading role this past year in setting us on the right path and I intend on continuing on that path if I am confirmed as Director.

Our strategy starts with strengthening our core business: collecting intelligence to help policymakers protect our country and advance American interests around the globe. It includes raising our investment against the most difficult intelligence gaps, putting more officers in the foreign field where our adversaries are, and emphasizing foreign language excellence. And, finally, it involves investing in our partnerships – both within the US Government and around the globe.

We must do everything we can to follow through on these investments and to make CIA as effective as it can possibly be, because the American people deserve no less than CIA’s best effort.

This is especially true when it comes to confronting threats from North Korea, Iran, Russia, and China. Today, CIA officers are deployed across the globe, sometimes at significant personal risk, collecting critical human and technical intelligence. I have spent my entire career driving operations and, if confirmed, I will be able to leverage that experience against these hard targets beginning on day one.

I knew that accepting the president’s nomination would raise questions about CIA classified activities and my career at the Agency. I also understand that it is important for the American people to get to know me so they are able to judge my fitness for this position. So over the last few weeks, we have leaned forward to make more information about my professional record public. We have also shared details on every aspect of my career through classified channels with this Committee, as well as with the rest of the Senate.

I think it is important to recall the context of those challenging times immediately following 9/11. For me, I had just returned to Washington from an overseas posting and I reported for duty the morning of 9/11. I knew in my gut when I saw the video of the first plane hitting the Tower in Manhattan that it was Bin Ladin. I got up from my desk and, like many others, walked over to the Counterterrorism Center and volunteered to help. I didn’t leave for three years. We worked seven days a week, and I even had friends who postponed weddings and having babies. The men and women of CIA were driven to prevent another attack. The first boots on the ground in Afghanistan were my colleagues. The first US casualty in Afghanistan was a CIA officer and it was CIA who identified and captured the mastermind of 9/11 in a brilliant operation. I am proud of our work during that time. The hard lessons we learned from that experience inform my leadership of CIA today.

In light of my counterterrorism experience, I understand that what many people around the country want to know about are my views on CIA’s former detention and interrogation program. I have views on this issue, and I want to be clear. Having served in that tumultuous time, I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership CIA will not restart such a detention and interrogation program.

CIA has learned some tough lessons, especially when asked to tackle missions that fall outside our expertise. For me, there is no better example of implementing lessons learned than what the Agency took away from the detention and interrogation program. In retrospect it is clear, as the SSCI Majority Report concludes, that CIA was not prepared to conduct a detention and interrogation program.

Today, the US Government has a clear legal and policy framework that governs detentions and interrogations. Specifically, the law provides that no individual in US custody may be subjected to any interrogation technique or approach that is not authorized by and listed in the Army Field Manual. I fully support the standards for detainee treatment required by law, and just as importantly, I will keep CIA focused on our collection and analysis missions that can best leverage the expertise found at the Agency.

Like I said, we learned important lessons following 9/11. As both a career intelligence officer and an American citizen, I am a strong believer in the importance of oversight. Simply put, experience has taught us that CIA cannot be effective without the people’s trust. And we cannot hope to earn that trust without the accountability that comes with Congressional oversight.

If we can’t share aspects of our secret work with the public, we should do so with their elected representatives. For CIA, oversight is a vital link to the open society we defend. It’s a defining feature of the US Intelligence Community, and one of the many things that distinguishes us from the hostile services we face in the field.

If confirmed as Director, I will uphold the Agency’s obligations to Congress and ensure that oversight works on behalf of the American people.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you and the Committee for the hard work that is put into the oversight process, and for the vital support that you provide to my fellow officers.

CIA has given a lot to me over the past three decades—a calling in service to my country, some real-life adventures, and the profound satisfaction of serving with some of the most talented and honorable men and women anyone could ever meet.

If confirmed, I hope to repay the debt I owe to this remarkable Agency by drawing on my experience. I know what my fellow officers need from me and, I know what our nation needs from CIA—truth, integrity, and courage.

Again, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to sit before you today, and I look forward to your questions.

Source: CIA

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I was asked to testify today to describe for you my interactions with President-Elect and President Trump on subjects that I understand are of interest to you. I have not included every detail from my conversations with the President, but, to the best of my recollection, I have tried to include information that may be relevant to the Committee.

Read Comey’s full prepared remarks here.

Source: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

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Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) announced on July 29 that the committee had unanimously voted to approve the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015.

The bill’s next step will be consideration before the full Senate. The House of Representatives has already passed its fiscal year 2015 bill.

Senator Feinstein said, “This bill continues the committee’s practice of passing strong legislation to authorize and fund the intelligence community while seeking to strengthen management and oversight. We have enacted five straight bills, and I look forward to this bill becoming the sixth. It has been a pleasure to work with Senator Chambliss, the vice chairman of the committee, over the years and I hope to get this legislation to the president’s desk before Senator Chambliss retires.”

Senator Chambliss added, “As our nation continues to face threats from all over the world, it is essential our intelligence collection and analytic capabilities are able to tackle the challenges that lie ahead. This year’s legislation provides clear guidance and appropriate resources to the intelligence community, while enhancing the committee’s oversight of vital intelligence activities. I am proud of the work Dianne and I have done on the final intelligence authorization bill of my career.”

The bill authorizes funding for the U.S. intelligence community and provides numerous legal authorities and requirements:

• The bill includes a provision requiring every intelligence agency to adopt procedures to ensure that communications of Americans acquired in the course of intelligence activities are destroyed within five years, unless a specific exemption applies. Similar destruction requirements exist in minimization procedures for collection done under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and this provision would extend such requirements to other intelligence activities.
• The bill also includes provisions calling for stronger management of parts of the intelligence community, including the conduct of financial intelligence and the consolidation of intelligence community lists of cyber threats and malware.
• The bill strengthens congressional oversight of intelligence agencies, including requiring an annual report of any violations of law or executive order committed by intelligence personnel and requiring a report of intelligence activities conducted within the Department of Homeland Security that fall outside the department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
• The classified annex to the bill authorizes the funding of intelligence activities. The committee supports and increases funding for counterterrorism and counter-proliferation and for intelligence collection around the world.

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Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) announced on July 10 their committee’s approval of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, a bill aimed at improving the nation’s cybersecurity. The vote was 12-3.

The legislation, authored by Feinstein and Chambliss, expands information shared about cybersecurity threats and defensive mechanisms between the government and companies and within the private sector in order to combat the rapid increase in attacks on computer systems that have resulted in the theft of millions of Americans’ personal information and hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for businesses large and small.

“Cyber attacks present the greatest threat to our national and economic security today, and the magnitude of the threat is growing,” Senator Feinstein said. “Every week we hear about the theft of personal information from retailers and trade secrets from innovative businesses, as well as ongoing efforts by foreign nations to hack government networks. This bill is an important step toward curbing these dangerous cyber attacks.”

“To strengthen our networks, the government and private sector need to share information about attacks they are facing and how best to defend against them.,” Feinstein continued. “This bill provides for that sharing through a purely voluntary process and with significant measures to protect private information.”

“It is past time for Congress to address the global cyber threat facing our nation,” Senator Chambliss added. “American businesses are attacked daily by criminals seeking trade secrets or customer’s credit card information, while the government defends our systems against cyber attacks from criminal organizations, nation-states, and terrorists seeking to harm and kill Americans. In order to protect ourselves from these attacks, we must all work together.”

“The legislation passed out of committee today is a strong, bipartisan bill that encourages the private sector and the government to share information voluntarily about these threats, without fear of frivolous lawsuits and without unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles,” Chambliss continued. “The cyber threats to our nation are all too real. The Senate should take up and pass this bill before the August recess.”

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act:

• Requires the director of national intelligence to increase the sharing of classified and unclassified cyber threat information to the private sector, consistent with the protection of sources and methods.
• Authorizes individuals and companies to monitor their own computer networks and those of their consenting customers for cyber threats and to implement countermeasures to block those threats.
• Authorizes the voluntary sharing of cyber threat information by individuals and companies with each other and with the government. Such sharing is for cybersecurity purposes only and companies must take appropriate measures to protect against the sharing of personally identifying information.
• Puts in place liability protections for individuals and companies that appropriately monitor their networks or share cyber information.
• Requires federal government procedures for the receipt, sharing and use of cyber information. This includes the establishment of a “portal” managed by the Department of Homeland Security through which electronic cyber information will enter the government and be shared with other appropriate federal entities.
• Limits the government’s ability to use information it receives to cyber-related purposes to ensure it does not engage in inappropriate investigations or regulation.
• Requires reports on the implementation of these authorities by the heads of federal departments, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and relevant inspectors general.

The committee’s adopted version of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act will be introduced later this week once amendments are incorporated.

Following is a list of amendments adopted by the committee today:

·         A managers’ amendment by Senators Feinstein and Chambliss to further strengthen privacy protections in the bill, clarify authorization language and make technical changes.

·         An amendment by Senator Collins allowing cyber threat information obtained under the bill to be used for the protection of minors.

·         An amendment by Senator Collins requiring that the attorney general procedures in the bill conform to the “Fair Information Practice Principles,” as included in the president’s 2011 cyber strategy.

·         An amendment by Senator Collins amending a provision in the fiscal year 2013 defense authorization bill to allow the Department of Defense to share cyber threat information it receives from defense contractors.

·         An amendment by Senator Heinrich requiring that the attorney general determine a specific limitation on how long cyber information can be retained.

·         An amendment by Senator Risch including the national laboratories among agencies to be consulted by the director of national intelligence as he develops procedures for sharing government information with the private sector.

·         An amendment by Senator Warner requiring a report from the director of national intelligence on cyber intelligence cooperation.

The legislation is the product of years of briefings and meetings with federal officials charged with cybersecurity responsibilities and dozens of meetings with private sector representatives and privacy advocates. The focus of the bill is narrowly on cybersecurity information sharing and it does not affect intelligence programs, net neutrality or the establishment of cyber standards.

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Rep. James Moran (D-VA), a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, took to the floor on March 12 to tell his colleagues that he disagrees with what he sees as the legislative branch yielding too much of its spending authority to the executive branch these days.

“What I am most concerned with in regard to this separation of powers was cited in a New York Times editorial today, and that is the fact that two successive Presidents have now absolved the Central Intelligence Agency for its conduct with regard to illegal detention, rendition, torture, and fruitless harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects,” Moran continued. “I don’t care about Khalid Sheikh Mohammad’s pain, frankly, but that is not the point. The point is that we have a responsibility in the legislative branch to oversee the conduct of our Intelligence Committees.”

“When the chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence in the Senate [Dianne Feinstein] says that the CIA improperly searched computers that were her committee staff members’ computers, that is wrong,” added Moran, the second most senior Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee. “The entire legislative branch should stand behind her in upholding our responsibilities as the legislative branch, an equal branch under the Constitution.”

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The nominees, who will next be considered by the full Senate, are:

• John Carlin — nominated to be Assistant Attorney General for National Security (voice vote);
• General Frank Taylor — nominated to be Undersecretary of Homeland Security for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (voice vote);
• Caroline Diane Krass — nominated to be General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency (13-2).

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The same five Intelligence Community leaders who appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee on January 29 will re-assemble and testify again about their assessment of global threats in a public hearing before the House Intelligence Committee on February 3.

“The Worldwide Threats Hearing is an open hearing the Committee holds each year that evaluates the current and projected threats facing our country,” said a notice posted on the House panel’s Web site.

The witnesses scheduled to appear are James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence; John Brennan, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Michael Flynn, Lieutenant General, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Matthew Olsen, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

The session will take place in Room HVC-210 of the Capitol Building, beginning at 10 AM.

“The open hearing will be preceded by a classified hearing on the same topic to be held Monday, February 3, 2014,” said the Committee’s notice. “The closed hearing is not open to the public or the media so that classified information can be discussed.”

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