Lawmaker to Cut Disputed Language in Spy Bill

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday that he had agreed to withdraw language from the fiscal 2006 intelligence authorization bill that would have curtailed the ability of the nation’s new spy chief to move personnel from one agency to another.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) had inserted a provision in the bill requiring congressional approval before analysts or other intelligence specialists could be transferred from existing agencies to offices being set up to track terrorism and other threats.

On Tuesday, Hoekstra introduced an amendment to delete that language -- which was opposed by Democrats and the new director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte.

The provision would have required Negroponte to provide notice to key congressional committee leaders -- and receive a response from them -- before transferring employees. If he did not receive a response, the transfers would not go through.

Rep. Jane Harman of Venice, the ranking Democrat on the House panel formally known as the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said the provision amounted to a “pocket veto” of the intelligence director’s authority to reassign personnel.

Under a landmark reform bill passed last year, the director of national intelligence was given the power to transfer up to 100 employees from the CIA or other agencies to new organizations -- including the National Counterterrorism Center. The director was required only to provide notice to, and consult with, appropriate congressional committees.

Hoekstra said in a telephone interview Wednesday that his provision had been a “slightly clumsy” attempt at clarifying the language in the reform bill; he rejected suggestions that it was an attempt to diminish the authority of the intelligence director.

“We want to have a very good relationship and supportive relationship” with the intelligence director, he said.

Hoekstra had inserted the language after similar language had been proposed, and then withdrawn, by the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon). The House is expected to begin debate on the intelligence authorization bill as early as today.

The legislation lays out the budget for the intelligence community for the coming fiscal year. Actual spending amounts are classified, but experts estimate the annual budget for the CIA and 14 other intelligence agencies to total more than $40 billion.