Daniel Akaka: “I rise to introduce ``The Intelligence Community Audit Act of 2006,'' with Senator Lautenberg which would reaffirm the…”

“I rise to introduce ``The Intelligence Community Audit Act of 2006,'' with Senator Lautenberg which would reaffirm the Comptroller General of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office's, GAO, authority to audit the financial transactions and evaluate the programs and activities of the intelligence community (IC). Representative Bennie Thompson, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, is introducing similar legislation. The bill Senator Lautenberg and I offer today is in keeping with legislation introduced in 1987 by Senator John Glenn, the former chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, to ensure more effective oversight of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal. The need for greater oversight and availability of information to appropriate congressional committees is not new. What is new is that Congress does not have the luxury of failure in this era of terrorism. Failure brings terrible consequence. Since 9/11, effective oversight is needed now more than ever for two very basic reasons: First, intelligence reforms have spawned new agencies with new intelligence functions demanding even more inter-agency cooperation. The Congress needs to ensure that these agencies have the assets, resources, and capability to do their job in protecting our national security.”