The Intelligence Employment Act
The massive overhaul of US intelligence is already having a positive effect – for employment in Washington. As Walter Pincus reports in the Washington Post on 12/23, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is adding 15 new staff members, one for each of the Senators on the committee. This increase in staff was authorized in the legislation so that the committee members would be able to handle the important authorization and appropriations functions, in addition to oversight.
But wait! There’s going to be a new appropriations subcommittee for intelligence, so much of the reason for the staff increase disappeared. Not the jobs, though. Here’s the scary part: Pincus reports that “the select committee's additional staff members will have access to the panel's classified meetings, reports and computer databases, relieving individual senators from having to attend every closed meeting or read all the reports and other documents the panel receives from the CIA and other agencies.” In other words, there will be more people than ever listening to and reading classified information. People who may or may not have any experience in intelligence gathering and analysis, and who are ultimately loyal to one person each – a Senator.
The media, bloggers and activists of all stripes must be salivating at the prospects for an additional 15 “sources close to the issue” who can selectively drop tidbits of information when it will help one political side or the other. And our intelligence services have to slog along with more layers of bureaucracy, more overseers, and more opportunities for their work to be compromised at every turn.
