News

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, released statements after their Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) for Fiscal Year 2023 was included as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The IAA authorizes funding, provides legal authorities, and enhances congressional oversight of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).
 

• “This year’s Intelligence Authorization Act ensures that the Intelligence Community (IC) has the resources, authorities, and personnel to protect America’s national security and counter the growing threats from autocracies like China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba. This bill further enhances U.S. counterintelligence screening, foreign intelligence collection and analysis, and emerging technology capabilities to focus the IC on addressing our primary national security threat in the 21st century – countering Communist China.” — Senator Rubio

• “This year’s bill will enhance the country’s ability to confront our adversaries, including the growing threats to our national security posed by China and Russia. It also takes significant steps to promote U.S. technology leadership, including by accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies and increasing our ability to compete with China. Finally, I am pleased that this year’s bill drives serious improvement to the IC’s hiring and security clearance processes, so that the IC can attract and expeditiously on-board a talented, diverse, and trusted workforce.” — Senator Warner

 
Background. The IAA for Fiscal Year 2023 authorizes funding and ensures that the IC, while under robust Congressional oversight, has the resources, personnel, and authorities it needs to protect our country and inform decision makers, including in the following key areas:
 

• Confronting the growing national security threat posed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) by increasing hard target intelligence collection and analysis, as well as by identifying and exposing corruption, forced labor camps, global infrastructure financing, and malign economic investments in telecommunications and semiconductors;
• Bolstering intelligence support for Ukraine as it fights to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty against Russia’s unprovoked aggression, including by increasing oversight of China’s support to Ukraine, assessing the effects of sanctions on Russia and its allies, and evaluating opportunities to mitigate threats to food security due to the conflict;
• Establishing IC Coordinators to account for Russian atrocities and for countering proliferation of Iran-origin unmanned aircraft systems;
• Driving improvements to the IC’s hiring and security clearance processes by keeping the IC accountable for progress, including timeliness in bringing cleared personnel onboard, ensuring that key management and contract oversight personnel in industry can obtain clearances, and establishing personnel vetting performance measures;
• Accelerating and improving procurement, adoption, and integration of emerging technologies across the IC;
• Establishing counterintelligence protections for IC grant funding against foreign-based risks of misappropriation, theft, and other threats to U.S. innovation;
• Establishing measures to mitigate counterintelligence threats from foreign commercial spyware;
• Strengthening oversight of national security threats associated with the regimes in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela;
• Ensuring continued support to the victims of anomalous health incidents (“Havana Syndrome”) and maintaining continued oversight over the IC’s investigations into the causes of anomalous health incidents; 
• Enforcing cybersecurity enhancements and cybersecurity minimum standards across the IC, including for classified systems; and
• Enhancing oversight of IC and Department of Defense collection and reporting on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.