TheCigSmokingMan
Rift Surfer
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-14-pelosi-intelligence_x.htm
Pelosi seeks greater oversight of spy spending
Updated 12/14/2006 10:13 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi on Thursday recommended creating a House panel to closely examine U.S. spy agencies' actions and spending, a step toward adopting all the proposals of the anti-terror Sept. 11 commission.
Pelosi, D-Calif., said the panel would "protect the American people with the best possible intelligence, recognizing the role that Congress plays in all of this."
It also would shake up long-standing power structures in Congress.
The Select Intelligence Oversight Panel would be part of the powerful Appropriations Committee and would draw its membership from that spending committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence.
Through a series of hearings, it would examine the president's intelligence budget, prepare the classified details to the annual defense spending bill and conduct oversight of the use of appropriated funds by intelligence agencies.
Pelosi's proposal does not follow the exact recommendation of the Sept. 11 commission. But it moves closer to the overhaul recommended two years ago when the commission found weaknesses in how Congress monitors the 16 intelligence agencies.
A Democratic member of the Sept. 11 commission — former Rep. Timothy Roemer of Indiana — said the change would achieve the commission's two major goals: forcing spy agencies to disclose more to Congress, which they often have ignored, and linking the expanded oversight to the power of the purse.
"This is a major step forward in terms of correcting some of the dysfunction on Capitol Hill," Roemer said.
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I can't wait to find out what the CIA and FBI has REALLY been doing these past few years...
TheCigMan
Pelosi seeks greater oversight of spy spending
Updated 12/14/2006 10:13 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi on Thursday recommended creating a House panel to closely examine U.S. spy agencies' actions and spending, a step toward adopting all the proposals of the anti-terror Sept. 11 commission.
Pelosi, D-Calif., said the panel would "protect the American people with the best possible intelligence, recognizing the role that Congress plays in all of this."
It also would shake up long-standing power structures in Congress.
The Select Intelligence Oversight Panel would be part of the powerful Appropriations Committee and would draw its membership from that spending committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence.
Through a series of hearings, it would examine the president's intelligence budget, prepare the classified details to the annual defense spending bill and conduct oversight of the use of appropriated funds by intelligence agencies.
Pelosi's proposal does not follow the exact recommendation of the Sept. 11 commission. But it moves closer to the overhaul recommended two years ago when the commission found weaknesses in how Congress monitors the 16 intelligence agencies.
A Democratic member of the Sept. 11 commission — former Rep. Timothy Roemer of Indiana — said the change would achieve the commission's two major goals: forcing spy agencies to disclose more to Congress, which they often have ignored, and linking the expanded oversight to the power of the purse.
"This is a major step forward in terms of correcting some of the dysfunction on Capitol Hill," Roemer said.
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I can't wait to find out what the CIA and FBI has REALLY been doing these past few years...
TheCigMan