Cliff Stearns: “it is 6 years after 9/11, and reform of the intelligence community continues to be a primary concern for all of us. At…”

“it is 6 years after 9/11, and reform of the intelligence community continues to be a primary concern for all of us. At the swearing-in ceremony of Director Mike McConnell, President Bush outlined three main categories for improvement: the need to strengthen individual agencies, increase information sharing action and improve the quality of intelligence produced. I wish to discuss this morning what this means. The intelligence community has established new hiring and employment reforms to strengthen the workforce. Under the direction of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), there is now a comprehensive intelligence community plan that focuses on hiring a more diverse workforce to address the critical need for variety in languages, backgrounds, and skills. He has also appointed a chief of equal employment opportunity and diversity, and has agreed to a set of wide-ranging recommendations that the diversity senior advisory panel made in their report: 'Diversity: A National Security Imperative for the Intelligence Community.' The Director of National Intelligence is also establishing 'joint duty' as a requirement for promotion to senior positions. This is imperative in transforming the culture to increase integration and a collaborative nature among agencies. It will also reduce 'stovepipe' mentalities which hampered collection efforts pre-9/11. These are important reforms, Mr.…”