House Passes Intelligence Authorization Conference Report

HOUSE PASSES INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION CONFERENCE REPORT

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, joined a majority of her colleagues today in voting for the Intelligence Authorization Fiscal Year 2008 Conference Report, which passed the House by a vote of 222 to 199. This legislation authorizes funding for intelligence operations, activities, and personnel levels. Schakowsky supported this bill in committee and voted for it today because it prohibits torture by requiring all intelligence agencies to comply with the U.S. Army Field Manual on interrogations.

Congresswoman Schakowsky delivered the following remarks today on the House floor before the vote on the Intelligence Authorization FY2008 Conference Report.

"This bill, our first in three years, will strengthen the oversight of the intelligence community; require reports on the Administration's compliance of the Detainee Treatment Act; and reduce the overall number of contractors employed by intelligence agencies.

But for me, the most important element of this bill, the main reason I'm supporting this conference report was added just one week ago during conference. When the intelligence oversight committees gathered to consider the conference report we inserted an amendment that would require all intelligence agencies to comply with the U.S. Army field manual on interrogations. This would mean no more torture and no more questions about what the CIA is allowed to do behind closed doors. The army field manual is unclassified and explicitly prohibits waterboarding, use of hoods, electric shocks, and mock executions. The military has voluntarily imposed these restrictions upon itself and now we must impose the same rules on the Intelligence Community.

I'm a new member of the intel committee. The speaker called me at the beginning of this session and asked if I would serve my country by joining this important and distinguished group, and I consider my work on this bill to be just that.

The intelligence agencies we oversee operate in the shadows. And on the Intelligence Committee we learn about policies and priorities and problems that no one in the broader public will ever see. Some of these issues are very troubling; some of them keep me up at night.

The question of interrogation techniques is one of the most important I have dealt with on the committee, and I'm gratified we're having this debate today in a public forum. My colleagues in the minority complain that the inclusion of this provision will make it impossible for our intelligence officers to protect the American people from terrorists. As a member of the intelligence committee, I assure you those claims are false.

But don't take my word for it. Please, consider the advice of General David Patreaus who said in a May 10th memo to the members of the armed forces that the army field manual allowed intelligence officials to get the information they need. Among the things he said is, "our experience in applying the interrogation standards laid out in the army field manual on human intelligence collector operations that was published last year shows that the techniques in the manual work effectively and humanely in eliciting information from detainees....

If we don't pass this bill with this provision, how can we assume the moral authority to criticize Burma or any other nation for its treatment of prisoners? In the end, we have hurt our own country and undermined the real source of our strength: the rule of law and the sanctity of our constitution.

We're fighting for the soul of our country today. I urge the adoption of this bill and I yield back the balance of my time....