Senate passes Intelligence Authorization Act in under two minutes

[tsai3904]

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4271653

S. 3454
Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013


Funds are hereby authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2013 for the conduct of the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the following elements of the United States Government:

(1) The Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
(2) The Central Intelligence Agency.
(3) The Department of Defense.
(4) The Defense Intelligence Agency.
(5) The National Security Agency.
(6) The Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force.
(7) The Coast Guard.
(8) The Department of State.
(9) The Department of the Treasury.
(10) The Department of Energy.
(11) The Department of Justice.
(12) The Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(13) The Drug Enforcement Administration.
(14) The National Reconnaissance Office.
(15) The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
(16) The Department of Homeland Security.

The amounts authorized are, of course, classified. One unclassified section shows an authorization for $514 million for fiscal year 2013 for the CIA Retirement and Disability Fund.

[itshappening]

How is it counted in the budget? I don't understand how the funds can be classified, surely the budget allocates something somewhere?

[Anti Federalist]

How is it counted in the budget? I don't understand how the funds can be classified, surely the budget allocates something somewhere?
Like this:

One, two, FUCK YOU!

That's how it's counted.

You got a problem with that, Mundane?

[tsai3904]

House just passed this bill 373-29.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll652.xml

Amash, Duncan, Jones, and Massie were four of five Rs who voted no. Ron was not present.

[seyferjm]

Anyone have the Senate roll call?

[TheTexan]

Murderous thieves

[tsai3904]

Anyone have the Senate roll call?

It passed by a voice vote. Watch the cspan clip.

[Zippyjuan]

How is it counted in the budget? I don't understand how the funds can be classified, surely the budget allocates something somewhere?

A dollar amount is included in the budget but the exact details of where it goes are classified. Some gets lumped into "legitimate" categories.

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/bus?guid=20121231/62220420-e968-4b2d-8441-467517dcb6d3

Congress tightens belt, trims spy budget for 2013
By KIMBERLY DOZIER
From Associated Press
December 31, 2012 6:43 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has drastically trimmed the budget for U.S. spies and satellites for 2013, though not quite as deeply as the White House wanted.

In one of the last votes of the year, House lawmakers voted Monday 373-29 in favor of a Senate-passed bill to slightly boost the president's $72 billion budget request for intelligence agencies including the CIA, adding extra cash for the counterterrorism fight against al-Qaida, and the counterintelligence fight against foreign governments trying to spy on the U.S.

That's down sharply from roughly $80 billion in 2012, which marked the peak of intelligence spending since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"The bill holds personnel levels, one of the biggest cost drivers, generally at last year's levels," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. "Even so, the bill adds a limited number of new personnel positions for select, high-priority positions, such as FBI surveillance officers to keep watch on terrorists."

The House Intelligence Committee's ranking member, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., said the bill "invests in personnel and programs that are working and cuts things that aren't."

The bill was stripped of several measures meant to block the leaking of classified information, including a provision that would have limited which government officials could brief journalists on intelligence. The measures had been drafted after lawmakers objected to a series of news stories that anonymously quoted senior administration sources describing sensitive intelligence programs, such as the process by which targets are chosen for lethal drone strikes overseas.

[Confederate]

It passed by a voice vote. Watch the cspan clip.

Cue the Rand bashing in 3...2...

[Brett85]

What exactly makes this bill bad? It seems like intelligence gathering is a legitimate function of the federal government.

[Confederate]

What exactly makes this bill bad? It seems like intelligence gathering is a legitimate function of the federal government.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-upiivYYrDf0/TiQYkoQRemI/AAAAAAAABrQ/80TJMq1H9Vg/s1600/Drones.jpeg

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2009/05/p1000351.jpg

http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/guantanamo-i.jpg

http://www.thepoke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/r211085_810672.jpg