Panel Votes to Disclose Spending on Intelligence

The Senate Intelligence Committee, which usually keeps its disputes behind closed doors, has voted 10 to 5 to begin disclosing the nation’s annual expenditures for intelligence activities.

The proposal, which could take effect next year, calls for official publication of three separate figures: how much the President requests each year, how much spending Congress authorizes and how much was actually spent in the previous fiscal year.

Public disclosure of these figures “will enable the American people to know how much the executive branch would like to spend each year and how Congress has dealt with that request,” the Senate panel said in its just-issued report on the 1992 intelligence authorization bill.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio), would signal the end of a 15-year fight by proponents, who say intelligence spending should comport with the constitutional requirement “that a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published from time to time.”

Five Republicans voted no, presaging what may be a tough fight ahead. They voiced fears that publication of aggregate figures will not be that enlightening and could lead to damaging disclosures.