A-Infos (en) Panel Boosts Funding for Covert Operations

[Tom Burghardt <tburghardt@igc.apc.org>]

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          PANEL BOOSTS FUNDING FOR COVERT OPERATIONS
_________________________________________________________________
 
     THE WASHINGTON POST   
     By Walter Pincus
     Washington Post Staff Writer
     Friday, May 1, 1998; Page A12
     http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-05/01/
   
     The House intelligence committee has increased "marginally"
the roughly $27 billion President Clinton has proposed to spend
next year on the nation's intelligence agencies, allocating
additional funds to modernize interception of worldwide
telecommunications and revitalize the CIA's clandestine spy
service, according to a statement the panel released.
   
     One of the beneficiaries of new spending would be the
National Security Agency (NSA), which has relied chiefly on
space-based satellites or ground-based antennas for its
eavesdropping, one source said yesterday. Based at Fort Meade,
Md., NSA now "needs new computers and new tools to get into the
new data streams that are crisscrossing the world," this
intelligence expert said. Some of the funds for new NSA equipment
are to come from reductions in spending next fiscal year by the
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the multibillion-dollar
organization that builds and manages the intelligence satellite
program, sources said.
   
     Clandestine human intelligence programs run by the CIA's
Directorate of Operations (DO) were another priority identified
by the House panel for more funding in its markup of the
Intelligence Authorization Bill for the fiscal year starting Oct.
1. The agency's spy service, reduced after the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991, has been in public disrepute since the 1994
arrest of the spy Aldrich H. Ames.
   
     CIA Director George J. Tenet and deputy director for
operations Jack Downing have been pressing Congress for more
funds to rebuild the directorate and reestablish agency posts in
places such as Africa, where almost all the CIA stations were
closed down over the past six years.
   
     For much of the 1990s, another source said, reducing the DO
was an easy way to save money because it was cheaper to have case
officers back in Washington, a change that automatically sliced
the number of operations and agents run overseas. "They gutted
activities," this source said, "and put us in danger of being
less than a global service."
   
     In seeking more funds for CIA human intelligence, Tenet and
Downing have noted that some supporters of terrorism operate in
African countries such as Sudan. CIA officials have told Congress
that by having case officers operating in certain African
countries, there is a better chance to track terrorists and of
Chinese and Russian activities there and in other countries.
   
     The House panel, as part of its plan for "revitalizing" the
Directorate of Operations, has recommended small increases in
funding to hire additional personnel over coming years for
operations that are long-range rather than short-term, sources
said. With operations directed at targets such as terrorism and
arms proliferation, one veteran CIA official said new personnel
requirements call less for recent college graduates and more for
older personnel with language qualifications and overseas
experience who could be transferred into the agency.
   
     Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), chairman of the intelligence
committee and a former CIA clandestine officer, said yesterday
the panel saw "the need for concerted focus on signals
intelligence, human intelligence, all-source analysis and our
covert action capabilities."
   
     Only marginal amounts of money were added for hiring new
analysts, sources said.
   
     The panel's ranking Democrat, Rep. Norman D. Dicks (Wash.),
said the bill "marginally exceeds the president's budget request"
and provides investment "in areas where technological advances or
lack of emphasis have weakened our capabilities."
   
     Tenet yesterday appeared in closed session before the Senate
intelligence panel to discuss the agency's espionage and covert
action programs. That committee, which is expected to mark up its
version of the authorization bill next week, also has made
additional funding for NSA one of its goals, according to
sources.
 
     Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
 
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