Intelligence_ From Secrets to Policy - Mark M. Lowenthal [159]
PRIOR NOTICE OF COVERT ACTION. One of Congress’s main concerns is that it receives prior notice of presidential actions. Most members understand that prior notice is not the same as prior congressional approval, which is required for few executive decisions. Covert action is one of the areas that have been contentious. As a rule, Congress receives advance notice of covert action in a process that has been largely institutionalized, but successive administrations have refused to make prior notice a legal requirement. A congressional demand for at least forty-eight hours’ notice led to the first veto of an intelligence authorization bill, by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. In 2008, the House Intelligence Committee threatened to fence money for all covert actions unless they are briefed on each of them.
ISSUES IN CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT
Oversight of intelligence raises a number of issues that are part of the “invitation to struggle,” as the separation of powers has often been called.
HOW MUCH OVERSIGHT IS ENOUGH? From 1947 to 1975—the first twenty-eight years of the modern intelligence community’s existence—the atmosphere of the cold war promoted fairly lax and distant congressional oversight. A remark by Sen. Leverett Saltonstall, R-Mass. (1945-1967), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, characterized that viewpoint: “There are things that my government does that I would rather not know about.” This attitude was partly responsible for some of the abuses that investigations uncovered in the 1970s.
Working out the parameters of the intelligence oversight system has not been easy. Successive administrations, regardless of party affiliation, have tended to resist what they have seen as unwarranted intrusions.
There is no objective way to determine the proper level of oversight. Committees review each line item on the budget. They do so to make informed judgments on how to allocate funds, which is Congress’s responsibility. Reviewing specific covert actions may seem intrusive to some, but it represents an important political step. If Congress allows the operation to proceed unquestioned, the executive branch can claim political support should problems arise later. Similarly, serious questions raised by Congress are a signal to rethink the operation, even if the ultimate decision is to go ahead as planned.
Does rigorous oversight require just detailed knowledge of intelligence programs, or does it require something more, such as information on alternative intelligence policies and programs? Congress has, on occasion, taken issue with the direction of intelligence policy and acted either to block the administration, such as the Boland amendments that prohibited military support to the contras, or to demand changes, such as the purchase of the arms control-related satellites.
SECRECY AND THE OVERSIGHT PROCESS. The high level of security that intelligence requires imposes costs on congressional oversight. Members of Congress have security clearances (through top secret) by virtue of having been elected to office. Members must have clearances to carry out their duties. Only the executive branch can grant security clearances, but there is no basis for its granting or denying clearances to members of Congress, as this would violate the separation of powers. At the same time, member clearances do not mean full access to the entire range of intelligence activities. Congressional staff members who require clearances receive them from