Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of this year's Intelligence Authorization Act. Our national security is truly a bipartisan issue, and this legislation is a reflection of both parties' shared commitment to the safety and security of all Americans.

This bill helps provide our intelligence community with the necessary resources and capabilities to defend our Nation against ongoing and emerging threats around the world.

As the ranking member on the DOD Intelligence and Overhead Architecture Subcommittee, I was pleased that the language and direction in this bill continues to advance our capabilities on the ground and in space and provides necessary oversight of many critical DOD, NRO, and NGA programs. Additionally, this legislation takes important steps toward enhancing thorough oversight of our surveillance capabilities while continuing to make calculated investments in critically important strategic efforts.

In the IAA, we also invested in our greatest national resource, our people. I want to thank the chairman and ranking member for accepting provisions that I drafted to promote diversity in the IC workforce. We are now able to provide a summer internship program to students from the existing Centers of Academic Excellence and Intelligence. We also now hold the IC more accountable for doing a better job of developing a matrix to assess minority fellowship and internship programs and how they actually achieve their desired results, which is to increase the number of minorities hired by the IC.

Recently, I had the privilege of hosting a diversity in Intel summit. This event served as a rare opportunity for minority groups interested in the IC to gain insightful and helpful advice from top national security officials. It was truly a great occasion and it further reaffirms our committee's shared commitment to helping to ensure robust diversity throughout the entire IC.

I was also pleased to successfully include bipartisan language that promotes accountability and transparency in the IC federally funded academic programs by requiring agencies to report on their recruitment and retention efforts. Increasing diversity and accountability in the IC is an issue of good governance and makes all of us better because it encourages unique and creative ways of problem-solving, which is increasingly necessary as we develop and we face more complex intelligence challenges.

As a committee, I am extremely proud of the work we have done. We took great pains to cut unnecessary funding while prioritizing the need to improve upon processes and be more efficient in the IC generally.
The reality is that we live in a world where potential threats to our Nation are constantly developing and changing. As our military missions and intelligence objectives continue to evolve, we need an IC that is both diverse, agile, and adequately funded.

I am proud to support this year's Intelligence Authorization Act. I want to, again, thank the chairman and ranking member for all of their hard work. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

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