Senate Intelligence Committee passes the FY23 Intelligence Authorization Act

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence passed the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (IAA) today on a unanimous 16-0 vote. The bill authorizes funding, provides legal authorities and enhances congressional oversight for the U.S. Intelligence Community.

“The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 reflects the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bipartisan commitment to ensuring America’s intelligence agencies have the resources they need to protect our country,” said Committee Chairman Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA). “This year’s bill will enhance the country’s ability to confront our adversaries, including by providing support to Ukraine and strengthening sanctions against Russia. It also takes significant steps to promote U.S. technology leadership and cybersecurity, increasing our ability to compete with China. Finally, I am pleased that this year’s bill drives serious improvement to the IC’s hiring and security clearance processes so that the IC can attract and expeditiously on-board a talented, diverse, and trusted workforce.”

“This year’s Intelligence Authorization Act directs action and resources in the Intelligence Community where they are needed most – to counter the ever-increasing threats from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea as well as rogue states in our hemisphere including Cuba and Venezuela,” said Committee Vice Chairman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). “Additionally, this bill protects America’s national security, technology, and innovation from multiple foreign adversaries, while increasing our foreign intelligence collection and analysis, as well as enhancing personnel talent and expertise.”

Background:

The IAA for Fiscal Year 2023 authorizes funding and ensures that the Intelligence Community (IC) has the resources, personnel, and authorities it needs to protect our country and inform decision-makers, while under robust Congressional oversight, including in the following key areas:

• Confronting the growing national security threat posed by China by increasing hard target intelligence collection and analysis, as well as by identifying and exposing China’s online influence operations, leadership corruption, forced labor camps, and malign economic investments in telecommunications and semiconductors;

• Bolstering intelligence support for Ukraine as it fights to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty since Russia’s second unprovoked invasion, including by assessing the effects of sanctions on Russia and its allies and opportunities to mitigate threats to food security at home and abroad;

• Driving improvements to the IC’s hiring and security clearance processes by keeping the IC accountable for progress, including for timeliness in bringing cleared personnel on board, ensuring that key management and contract oversight personnel in the industry can obtain clearances, and assessing the utilization rates and accessibility of government and contractor secure facilities;

• Establishing counterintelligence protections for IC grant funding against foreign-based risks of misappropriation, theft, and other threats to U.S. innovation;

• Strengthening oversight of national security threats associated with the regimes in Cuba and Venezuela;

• Establishing an Office of Global Competition Analysis to ensure U.S. leadership in technology sectors critical to national security;

• Ensuring continued support to the victims of anomalous health incidents (“Havana Syndrome”) and maintaining continued oversight over the IC’s investigations into the causes of anomalous health incidents;

• Maintaining strong congressional oversight of, and protections for, IC whistleblowers who come forward to report waste, fraud, or abuse;

• Promoting cybersecurity enhancements and establishing cybersecurity minimum standards across the IC, including for classified systems;

• Enhancing oversight of IC and Department of Defense collection and reporting on Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena; and

• Increasing transparency and promoting efforts to reform the declassification process.