History
The Act, first passed in 1991, it has been suggested, was an indirect result of the scandals that were present during the Nixon Administration as well as abuses during the Reagan Administration. Following Richard Nixon’s impeachment, Congress reacted by passing a number of bills to strengthen their authority regarding domestic and foreign operations within the CIA.
Following the scandal of Nixon, the American Congress grew increasingly skeptical of the secret dealings of the President. While expanding the power of Congress, the Act also supported the Hughes-Ryan Amendment which prevented the President from denying his involvement in secret operations, in this case, those of the Central Intelligence Agency. This revision was most important during the Era of Skepticism in which Congress was most interested in the president’s actions due to Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
The proceeding revisions have resulted in greater authority of the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). Ultimate authority lies in the hands of Congress and can be displayed using two main actions. Much of the funding provided by Congress must be spent and publicized by the end of the fiscal year. This prevents the CIA from becoming involved in overly expensive operations. Congress is also the main decision maker regarding covert actions and can reject the funding of operations supported by the CIA, such as their attempt to overthrow the Nicaraguan government in 1982.
Read more about this topic: Intelligence Authorization Act
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“We know only a single science, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divide it into the history of nature and the history of men. However, the two sides are not to be divided off; as long as men exist the history of nature and the history of men are mutually conditioned.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)