The fiscal 2020 Intelligence Authorization Bill, that recently passed the House by an overwhelming 397-to-31 vote, contains provisions that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said would call for “new notification requirements regarding covert or overt efforts by foreign governments to undermine trusted institutions or to interfere in the democratic process, our own or those of other nations.”
Although ranking Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has strongly challenged Schiff’s plan to continue investigating Russian involvement with President Trump’s 2016 election, Nunes agreed to a provision added to the bill in advance of the 2020 elections that would require the Intelligence Community to brief the congressional leadership as well as the Intelligence, Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees within 14 days of determining that “a significant foreign cyber intrusion or active measures campaign intended to influence an upcoming election for any Federal office has occurred or is occurring.”
Back in September 2016, President Obama's Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, then-FBI Director James Comey, and then Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco secretly briefed 12 Republican and Democratic members of Congress that Russia was using cyber tools to influence the presidential election. At that time, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused to agree to identify Russia as the active player. That resulted in a watered-down, bipartisan letter being sent to the president of the National Association of State Election Directors, urging cybersecurity precautions in light of reports of attempted hacking into campaigns and state and local election entities.
During House discussion of the new measure, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said the bill “mandates that the FBI notify the congressional intelligence committees when the FBI has a counterintelligence investigation open related to a CI [counterintelligence] risk to an election or campaign for Federal office.” She then pointed out, ironically, “Given former FBI Director Comey's testimony in 2017, I am still deeply concerned that the FBI failed to provide notification to the congressional intelligence committees regarding the investigation opened into the Trump campaign in 2016 until well after the election.”
That was only one new provision contained in the House-passed measure that also includes provisions to benefit the intelligence community workforce such as 12 weeks of paid parental leave on top of the unpaid leave already guaranteed to them by law, plus compensation for families of CIA personnel killed or injured as a result of war or hostile acts.
The bill also contains other provisions worth public discussion.
Reflecting the committee’s concern over lack of prosecution of leaks of classified information to the media, the bill has a provision requiring all intelligence agencies to provide a semi-annual report of “the number of unauthorized disclosures to journalists or media organizations, including subsequent referrals made to the United States Attorney General,” for criminal investigation.
The panel also included language in requiring an additional report containing information from intelligence agency inspectors general on what their roles have been with regard to investigating unauthorized disclosures.
Recognizing this as a potential hot button press issue, the House Intelligence Committee report makes clear that the information is only needed “to better understand” the situation and does not at this time indicate any future step to deal with the situation.
Another provision calls for the Director of National Intelligence to prepare classified and unclassified assessments of “the net worth and financial and other assets, legitimate as well as illegitimate, of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his family members.” The assessments should include holdings inside and outside of Russia, plus those maintained for the benefit of Vladimir Putin. In addition, it should include “the methods used by Vladimir Putin or others acting at his direction, with his knowledge, or for his benefit, to conceal Putin’s interest.”
The Director of National Intelligence is directed to produce to the congressional intelligence committees an assessment of the North Korean regime’s revenue sources, including sales of defense articles and services; exportation of North Korean workers whose revenues support the government; banking support and services from other countries such as Russia, China and Iran; online services including gambling; cyber-enabled crime and counterfeit goods; fishing rights; and trade in gold, coal, titanium ore and vanadium ore.
A new provision gives the Director of National Intelligence authority to provide security protection to current or former members of the Office of National Intelligence (ODNI) or immediate family members if there are threats that indicate a need for taking such a step. Up to now, security only was authorized to ODNI personnel, not immediate family members.
Another provision takes away from the president the appointment of Chief Information Officer of the Intelligence Community and gives it to Director of National Intelligence.
The bill calls for a study of former intelligence officers who may be providing certain types of intelligence assistance to foreign governments or indirectly through a company for the benefit of foreign governments. Such assistance, related to human rights abuses and privacy of U.S. citizens, seems to be related to what Michael Flynn was alleged to have done in support of Turkish desire to get its hands on U.S.-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara has accused was behind a failed coup attempt against the Erdogen government.
The stated purpose of the study is to see if legislation or policy changes are needed to prevent ex-intelligence personnel from carrying on that type of activity.
Another provision would establish a $5 million award competition to help detect “machine-manipulated media,” also known as “deepfakes.” The committee has already held a hearing on deepfakes which involves use of video and audio recordings to generate false pictures or speeches or the conduct of individuals. Schiff, who introduced the prize provision, last week wrote to the chief executives of Facebook, Twitter and Google, asking about their research into detection of doctored content. “As we look ahead to the 2020 election, I am gravely concerned the experience of 2016 may have just been the prologue,” Schiff wrote in the letters.
The Intelligence Committee’s report on the bill also contains language requesting a variety of studies that could lead to future legislation.
It calls for complex classified and unclassified reports on Chinese influence operations including those targeted at election campaigns since January 2017 and upcoming, not just at the United States but also military alliances and partnerships of which the U.S. is a member. An interim report is called for by November 5, 2019, and a final one no later than September 30, 2020, in advance of the presidential election that year.
The reports are to include, “specific Chinese state and non-state entities involved,” and “The United States’ strategy and capabilities for detecting, deterring, countering, and disrupting such Chinese influence.”
Reflecting new concerns that U.S. colleges and think tanks are being used as sources of national security information, the Secretary of Defense is directed to provide by January 1, 2020, a report listing Chinese and Russian academic institutions that have a history of improper technology transfer, theft or cyber espionage.
Seeking a new path to recruit intelligence professionals, the committee wants a Pentagon/ODNI feasibility study that would give Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) graduates an option to join CIA or other intelligence agencies rather than the military service that sponsored their university programs. “The Committee believes the government can find cost savings and provide a wider range of opportunities to ROTC recruits by leveraging the ROTC’s existing training program for the IC (intelligence community),” the panel’s report said.
Continuation of two Cold War efforts are reflected in the Committee report language. It calls for upgrading the fleet of OC -135B fleet of aircraft that conduct the 55-year-old Open Skies Treaty flights that provide the U.S. and Russia with in-country overflights of the other country’s missile sites. They were resumed this past February after settlement of a dispute that halted them last year.
U.S. aircraft need new digital visual imaging systems and the Air Force faces questions about replacement of the current aircraft by 2022, when the current ones need to be re-certified as treaty compliant.
Meanwhile, the Navy’s only cable laying and repair ship, the 36-year-old USNS Zeus, is nearing the end of its service life. The Zeus is key to maintaining the U.S.’ Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS) of deep-sea acoustic arrays by which the Navy detects movements of Russian and other nations’ nuclear and diesel foreign submarines. A Navy study in 2017 said that two replacement ships would be needed to replace the Zeus, which is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2026. The committee wants the Navy to report by October 29, 2019, how it plans “to meet the current and future for cable laying and repair requirements.”
The Committee believes Congress should reconsider the name of the current FBI Washington headquarters which by a 1972 statute must be known as the ‘‘J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building.’’ In its report, the Committee said that Hoover’s name recalls Bureau efforts to disparage and undermine Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and its “sordid ‘COINTELPRO’ activities.”
Congress should repeal the 1972 provision and “a new name should be determined, through a joint dialogue among Bureau leadership, law enforcement personnel, elected officials, and civil rights leaders,” according to the Committee report.
While the bill includes a number of provisions that would have significant impact on the Intelligence and broader national security community, the House measure still has to be reconciled with the Senate-passed measure.
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