As noted in the SSCI’s biannual report on its oversight activities, beyond the major investigation into Russian influence activities, its intelligence oversight activities in the 115th Congress included considerable time on matters pertaining to cybersecurity, culminating in the enactment of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015.
Much of the committees’ work that has been publicly visible since the September 11, 2001, attacks has related to surveillance law. The committees spend considerable time focused on whether the intelligence community is conducting its work lawfully and in accordance with protection for privacy and civil liberties. They also authorize the annual intelligence community budget, the National Intelligence Program. The committees continually assess whether the intelligence community has the legal authority it needs to protect the nation and whether it has sufficient financial resources to do its job. The work of the intelligence committees is conducted largely in a classified setting, primarily through hearings, statutorily required reports, investigations, formal and informal briefings, and correspondence. Comprehensive congressional investigations documented the abuses, and Congress acted on recommendations to establish specific committees of oversight. The committees were created as a result of substantial exposure of intelligence community abuses after the Watergate era. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HSPCI) were created in 19, respectively. This will be no easy task.īackground on Congressional Intelligence Oversight
CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT PROCESS HOW TO
The intelligence committees, in particular, will need to determine how to apply the time and resources of members and staff in alignment with the most pressing priorities. These include but are not limited to: aggressive influence activities of hostile foreign nations, including cyber operations expanding influence of authoritarians and far-right populism, and the role of digital technologies in attempts to undermine liberal democracies increased displacement of populations fleeing terrorism, violence, and economic instability and continued threats from international terrorist actors and organizations. The 116th Congress, in session as of January 3, 2019, will be presented with extremely significant matters of national security. Most recently, the 115th Congress – and its challenges in conducting inquiries into Russian interference in the 2016 election – has provided examples of both what happens when intelligence oversight is conducted in a rigorous, bipartisan manner and, conversely, what happens when bipartisan cooperation and coordination break down.
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