Intelligence Authorization Act - Provisions of The Act

Provisions of The Act

The 1991 Act states that all secret operations carried out by the Agency must be approved by the President of the United States. In turn, all parties involved must be recorded and made public to Congress. Therefore, the Intelligence Authorization Act also publicized the president’s involvement in both foreign affairs and special actions within the CIA. With the passing of the Intelligence Authorization Act, the agency is required to submit a report on budgetary spending within to the CIA to Congress.

Intelligence Authorization Act of fiscal year 1993 called for a revision of the structure of the Agency. The National Intelligence Council was developed so that the DCI could have overall authority on what was suggested in the reports given to Congress. The seats in Council were filled with members of the community who held senior positions with budgetary analysis backgrounds. The 1993 revision also cemented the DCI’s position regarding international affairs within the community as well as the United States’ foreign policies. The United States Secretary of Defense must consult the DCI before hiring new members of intelligence agencies.

The Intelligence Authorization Act of fiscal year 1994, passed on December 3, 1993, forced the documentation of unclassified operations. These would be submitted by the head of central intelligence, the Director of Central Intelligence. Reports on counter terrorist actions, as well as gaps within the agency must be submitted to Congress.

Attempts have been made to revise the Act in order to make the agency’s budget spending available to the American public. Congress has rejected this revision since 1993. There are a number of reasons behind the rejection. Government officials have assumed that because the amount of money would be unexplainable without including a total report on CIA actions, the public would continue to ask for more information. Congress has also suggested that patterns could be made with the analysis of yearly reports, which would allow anyone with access to discover details of secret operations within the agency. The simplest explanation is that after reviewing the budget reports, citizens would realize how much money is going into the agency and would protest in order to lower budgetary allowances.