Karen Bass: “as a member of both the Budget and Intelligence committees, I have been especially sensitive to what we call top line…”

“as a member of both the Budget and Intelligence committees, I have been especially sensitive to what we call top line issues--how much money is available overall, and whether it is generally adequate. Pressures to keep down the allocations for defense have also had an adverse ``trickle down'' effect on intelligence, since intelligence is funded within the defense top line. For the last decade, intelligence lost a large part of its buying power, after absorbing reductions both indirectly from inflation and directly from budget resolutions. In this regard, we recently suffered several particularly bad years. The administration's request this year increased somewhat, providing partial relief from the decline. Striving to remain within established financial boundaries, the committee gave the national intelligence agencies only slightly more than the request. The service portion of the budget, where we share jurisdiction with Armed Services, enjoyed greater increases. This willingness to sacrifice a share of the hard- pressed military budget acknowledges the heavy service dependence on tactical intelligence, and the need to improve it. The situation among the national agencies is also problematic. Most of them have been squeezed for a decade and are showing the effects.”