Press Releases

For Immediate Release                                          Contact: Allison Getty
May 22, 2014                                                    202-225-7690     
                                                                                            allison.getty@mail.house.gov

 Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), Ranking Member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, delivered the following statement at the House Intelligence Committee’s mark up of the FY 15 Intelligence Authorization Act.

“Before us today is the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 and 2015. As the Chairman said, this bill before us combines the tables from the FY 15 IAA with the tables and legislative text from the FY 14 IAA that we marked up in November and pre-conferenced with the Senate over the past 6 months.

As this is the last IAA we will work on together, Chairman Rogers, I want to thank you again for your strong, bi-partisan leadership.  Together, we have passed three IAAs and we look on track to pass both the FY14 and the FY15 IAA.  That is a huge accomplishment. 

Each and every Member of this Committee has negotiated hard for their priorities, but has worked even harder to find common ground on behalf of the American people.

Like those before it, this combined IAA is a solid bill that provides our intelligence professionals with the resources, capabilities and authorities they need to protect us, while ensuring our continued oversight of the Intelligence Community on behalf of the American people.

From a big picture perspective, we are less than 1% above the President’s budget request.  But, I think the way we trim in certain areas and add money in others is responsible and well thought out.  It also acknowledges the need to right the ship after sequestration.

I also want to highlight a few specifics:

1. We continue to emphasize the value of persistence in our overhead architecture, and I’m pleased to see that we further this goal prudently, without investing prematurely in expensive new hardware.
2. I am also very pleased to see that we make certain wise investments in Research and Development.

3. We continue to scale back IC use of core contractors, and, encouraged by the progress made in the continuous evaluation of Insider Threats, we smartly push for even more improvements.  We also push for a broader application of Insider Threat programs beyond just the “Big Six” IC agencies. 

When Insider Threats reveal classified information, we must make sure that we make the appropriate corrections to our collection activities, while not over-correcting and forgetting what is at the core of the intelligence business.

4. The bill today wisely provides critical, forward-looking funding for Navy airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance to maintain military intelligence capabilities during the transition from older to newer, more capable aircraft.
5. I am happy to see that we also invest in both the recruitment and retention of the best and brightest for our cyber workforce, particularly in the FBI.

On the other hand, I am concerned that we do not do enough to study the national security implications of climate change.  Whether by driving competition for scare resources, by opening the Arctic, or by increasing sea level and storm surge near our naval installations, climate change will have profound, destabilizing effects which we need to understand, anticipate, and account for.  As a military advisory board recently said, there may be disagreement about the causes of climate change, but the national security consequences are so significant that we cannot ignore it. We must start taking action now.

Finally, we have a good group of amendments that will be taken up today.  They promise to make a good bill even better.

And, before I close, let me just say thank you to our Staff.  This markup would not be possible without your extensive dedication and effort. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

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