FEINGOLD, HAGEL EFFORT TO STRENGTHEN INTELLIGENCE GATHERING PASSES COMMITTEE Bipartisan Effort Builds on the Work of the 9/11 Commission, is Endorsed by Prominent Intelligence and Foreign Policy Experts May 1, 2008 Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE), both members of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees, announced today that new legislation they authored was included in the Intelligence Authorization bill approved by the Intelligence Committee Thursday. Their bipartisan effort builds on the work of the 9/11 Commission by strengthening our intelligence and information gathering around the world, especially in places where the U.S. doesn’t have enough of a presence on the ground today. The 9/11 Commission warned that we must focus “toward remote regions and failing states,” but three and a half years later the U.S. has not yet responded to these warnings. The U.S. government and intelligence community tends to focus on current threats at the expense of having the “strategic depth” to analyze and anticipate potential threats and surprises lurking over the horizon. The focus on current reporting has been cited, including by the Director of National Intelligence, as a problem in the Intelligence Community’s ability to forecast significant events. The Feingold-Hagel legislation establishes an independent commission to improve how the U.S. government collects and analyzes information, so that we can head off emerging threats. The Commission would look not just at strengthening formal intelligence gathering, but at getting more information from U.S. diplomats and other U.S. officials stationed around the world. It would also look into ways to enhance the language skills and cultural understanding of intelligence officers and diplomats. “Over the last six years, we have not done nearly enough to fix the gaps in our intelligence gathering that contributed to the 9/11 attacks,” Feingold said. “We should be ahead of the curve, anticipating emerging threats, but our intelligence officials have acknowledged that we still don’t have intelligence gathering capabilities we need. We need a strategic approach to collecting more information, from more sources, and a better strategy for how to analyze that information so we can address crises before they happen.” Senator Hagel said, “This bi-partisan Commission would enhance Congress’ oversight of intelligence and foreign information gathering. Strategic depth in collection and analysis is an issue that cuts across the oversight responsibilities of both the Intelligence and the Foreign Relations Committees. The Commission would examine diplomatic as well as intelligence reporting, and would help provide an in-depth analysis of these issues, to ensure the United States government receives the information and analysis it needs to anticipate future strategic challenges.” The Feingold-Hagel initiative is supported by: Zbigniew Brzezinski – Former National Security Advisor to President Carter; Professor of American Foreign Policy - School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. Donald Gregg – National Security Advisor to Vice-President George H.W. Bush 1982-1988; CIA 1951-1982; Chairman of the Board, The Korea Society. Larry Wilkerson –Former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell; Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary; U.S. Army (Ret.). Carl Ford - Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research 2001-03; Former intelligence officer in the Army, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the CIA. Gayle Smith - Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council; Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress. David Kay – Former Head of the Iraq Survey Group; Senior Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies concentrating in counterterrorism and weapons proliferation Rand Beers - Former Senior Director and Special Assistant to the President for Intelligence Programs; President, National Security Network. Fact Sheet: Feingold-Hagel Initiative to Fill Intelligence Gaps “I always worry about the next threat... We tend to focus intently on the current threat, and I’d like to keep some group with wary eyes looking over the horizon at what might be next.” – Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell. Why is the legislation needed? The United States government lacks capabilities for collecting intelligence and information around the world. By its own admission, the Intelligence Community lacks “global reach,” which is necessary to collect information in terrorist safe havens and other far-flung areas where we have national security interests, and devotes a “disproportionate” level of resources toward current crises, rather than to long-term strategic challenges and emerging threats. These are challenges not just for the Intelligence Community, but for diplomats and other U.S. government officials who serve as America’s eyes and ears. We need an effective interagency process that addresses our intelligence and information gaps, identifies both the clandestine and non-clandestine resources needed to fill those gaps, and allocates resources accordingly. What the legislation does: The bill would establish an independent, nonpartisan Foreign Intelligence and Information Commission to: Evaluate the U.S. government’s global strategies to collect foreign intelligence and information; Evaluate the extent to which the government coordinates collection and analysis strategies across agencies and among clandestine, diplomatic, military, and open source channels; Evaluate whether human and budgetary resources are directed across agencies to meet strategic foreign intelligence and information collection strategies; Evaluate the government’s efforts to promote language, cultural training, and other qualifications for personnel serving abroad to more effectively collect foreign intelligence and information; and Make recommendations to the executive branch and Congress to address these challenges. The Commission The 14-member Foreign Intelligence and Information Commission would consist of three members appointed by the Senate Majority Leader, three members appointed by the Senate Minority Leader, three members appointed by the Speaker of the House, three members appointed by the House Minority Leader, one non-voting member appointed by the Director of National Intelligence, and one non-voting member appointed by the Secretary of State. All members would be private citizens with intelligence, foreign policy and national security expertise. No later than 18 months after its formation, the Commission would submit an interim report to the congressional intelligence committees with findings and recommendations. No later than six months after the submission of the initial report, the Commission would submit a final report to the President, Director of National Intelligence, Secretary of State, and congressional intelligence committees.

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