Dispute over oversight powers stalls intel policy bill

Advancing the fiscal 2010 intelligence authorization bill has been tripped up by disagreement between Democratic lawmakers and the Obama administration over giving the Government Accountability Office authority to audit intelligence agencies, according to key lawmakers and aides.

A provision giving GAO such authority was included in the House version of the authorization bill, which was approved in February. But the administration threatened to veto the bill, in part, over the provision.

To avoid the veto threat, the provision was removed from the bill. But some Democrats, led by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., are trying to find a way to reinsert the provision into the bill, or some version of it that would not trigger a veto.

"I'm working on it," Eshoo said. "I have to hear from the administration."

She said the provision is not intended to impede the operations of intelligence agencies or reveal sources and methods.

"This is simply about Congress being able to do its oversight and investigative responsibilities," she said.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in interviews last week that all issues had been cleared up to allow the authorization bill to proceed to conference.

They were referring to the fact that the GAO provision was dropped, but Eshoo's efforts to put it back in have intensified in recent days. The Senate version of the bill does not include the provision.

"Efforts are ongoing to find out if there's a manner where the GAO provision can be included without drawing a veto threat," said Mike Delaney, staff director of the House Intelligence Committee. Eshoo also plans to offer the provision as an amendment to the fiscal 2011 defense authorization bill when that bill goes before the House Rules Committee Wednesday.

When asked if opposition from the Obama administration is frustrating, she said, "Highly."

Delaney linked the need for an intelligence authorization bill to problems that are gripping intelligence agencies, which culminated last week with the resignation of Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair.

Lawmakers and intelligence experts have said the 2004 law creating the DNI is full of ambiguities that need to be resolved. The fiscal 2011 intelligence authorization bill does not contain provisions in direct response to Blair's incident, but provides overall direction to intelligence agencies, Delaney said.

"The Blair incident and ambiguity around the intelligence community clearly shows why you have to start getting the intelligence authorization process back on track," he said.