Homeland Security forum response

Many Intelligence Members feel that the U.S. intelligence oversight has been intrusive, meddling, short-sighted, and counterproductive; has involved an abundance of micromanagement; and has served to pull the Intelligence Community (IC) into the political battleground of partisan politics from which it had previously been immune (Van Wagenen, 2007). Others are inclined to view Congressional oversight as being, on balance and after a somewhat rocky start in the late 1970s, a decided plus for the Community by providing loci for Congressional advocacy, support for intelligence, providing a rigorous review and questioning of intelligence activities and budgets (Van Wagenen, 2007). Regardless of which side one may favor, congressional oversight was put in place to manage the IC by “Controlling Resources, Passage of new legislation and the Release of information to the public” (Week 7, 2016). The issues facing Congress when providing U.S. intelligence oversight of many IC programs while at the same time being a consumer/user and controlling the budget for strategic intelligence analysis and production, is no different than the democratic or Republican Party controlling the house or senate. In most cases the final decisions/laws passed will be in the best interest of that party and in this case congress.

Of the three mechanisms used by congress to manage the IC, only one does not provide sufficient oversight which benefits congress and the IC or the U.S. government. The release of information to the public has many negative factors that hinder the overall process. 1.) Most information may spook the public 2.) By the time the information gets released, it has been altered or misconstrued 3.) There are terrorist living among the public. These examples are some of the reasons that make congressional oversight hard for some members of the IC to support. There must be a strategic and precise way in-which the information shared with the public gets released.

Lathaniel

Van Wagenen, James S. A Review of Congressional Oversight, Critics and Defenders. April 14, 2007. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/97unclass/wagenen.html

WEEK 7: INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT AND ETHICS, Intelligence and Homeland Security; HLSS320 D003 Sum 16: Lessons. October 18, 2016. https://edge.apus.edu/portal/site/333899/page/ff1feb4b-0ea5-43b6-9aac-f90c37e58bbf