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[infowar.de] US-Repräsentantenhaus beschließt neues Spionage-Gesetz
Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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Kernpunkte:
- "Wiederbelebung" der NSA (sic!)
- mehr Geld für human Intelligence
- mehr Rohdaten als bisher in Intelligence-Wissen verwandeln
- mehr Geld für Forschung und Entwicklung
RB
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20011213/pl/intelligence_congress_8.html
Thursday December 13 6:25 AM ET
House Passes Intelligence Bill
By CAROLYN SKORNECK, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A new intelligence bill passed unanimously by the
House places new emphasis on traditional human spy networks in
combatting terrorism.
It would increase spending by 8 percent - higher than the 7 percent
President Bush sought. Besides focusing new attention and funding on
human spies, it aims to increase the portion of collected data that gets
analyzed and turned into useful information.
The voice vote Wednesday was on final passage of a conference bill
worked out by House and Senate negotiators. The Senate still must pass
the compromise bill before it can be sent to President Bush for his
signature.
``The events of Sept. 11 are a sad reminder of what happens when we let
our intelligence guard down,'' said Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., a former
CIA officer who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
``Intelligence is our first line of defense and it must be treated as
such, particularly in this war against terrorism.
``The fact that the first casualty was a CIA officer speaks to the fact
that intelligence is in fact in the lead in this war,'' he said. ``There
is no argument about that.''
The final bill dropped a House proposal for an outside panel to assess
why the intelligence community failed to uncover those attack plans in
advance, but the Senate and House Intelligence committees will study
that as they determine reforms needed to enhance intelligence
capabilities.
Intelligence spending is generally kept secret. But the CIA revealed,
after being sued by the Federation of American Scientists, that spending
totaled $26.6 billion in 1997 and $26.7 billion in 1998, said the
federation's Steven Aftergood. Since then, it's been estimated at about
$30 billion a year.
The measure sets out four priorities:
-Revitalizing the National Security Agency, which gathers and analyzes
information from broadcasts, computers and other electronic means of
communication, shifting the focus from intercepting broadcasts to
tapping fiber-optic communication lines.
-Correcting deficiencies in human spy networks. Among other things, Rep.
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, the nation must ``ensure that case
officers receive the training they need, especially in foreign
languages, to be able to do their jobs effectively.''
-Increasing the percentage of data collected that is converted into
useful intelligence.
-Funding for a research and development initiative, reversing declining
investment in this area.
The bill also calls for a review of new guidelines on recruiting foreign
assets and sources, even though CIA Director George Tenet in September
revised 1995 rules that limited recruitment of foreigners who had
committed human rights abuses.
The rules ``have had a chilling effect on our ability to gain access to
vital intelligence,'' Goss said.
The bill would also make it easier to get a roving wiretap, amending a
law that requires agents to list the instrument's location. Since roving
wiretaps are aimed at moving objects such as cell phones, locations keep
changing. Under the bill, if agents don't know where it is, they would
not have to list it.
On the Net:
Senate committee: http://intelligence.senate.gov
House committee: http://intelligence.house.gov/
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