Liz Saville Roberts: “I rise today to urge Senate passage of the conference report for the Fiscal Year 2004 Intelligence Authorization Act. On…”

“I rise today to urge Senate passage of the conference report for the Fiscal Year 2004 Intelligence Authorization Act. On November 20 the conference report was approved by the House of Representatives. In order to quickly provide the Intelligence Community the authorities it requires in order to pay, house, and equip its personnel for our most sensitive and critical national security work, this legislation should be sent to the President without delay. The horrible terrorist attacks in Turkey underscore the urgency of our task. This conference report is good legislation with important management and budget authorities. I will review just a few of them for you. In the conference report, the Senate receded to a number of significant House provisions of interest. The most significant of these is a provision that will consolidate and organize existing intelligence-related functions in the Department of the Treasury by creating a new Office of Intelligence and Analysis. This administration-supported provision also creates a new Assistant Secretary position. Senate managers also accepted a House provision intended to foster better information-sharing among Federal, State and local government officials. The bombings in Turkey illustrate that terrorists remain capable of striking at the heart of peaceful societies. We must be prepared to meet this continuing threat.”