Quotes about Intelligence Accountability

Michael Hayden

When I was at the CIA I asked my civilian advisory board to tackle some tough questions. Among the toughest: In a political culture that every day demands more transparency and more public accountability from every aspect of national life, could American intelligence continue to survive and succeed? That jury is still out.

Matt Gaetz

If Adam Schiff is able to review covert operations and intelligence, and if we have to be able to rely on his representations, our whole system is broken.

Curt Weldon

The 33 different intelligence systems paid for by 15 different agencies need to be brought together…. A national debate on intelligence is necessary! … I am going to continue to fight a system that doesn’t want to hear the word “reform.”

Ed Markey

While the interests of the Intelligence community should not be taken lightly, we must remember that they exist to serve, not dictate.

James J. Wirtz

The desire of appropriations committee members to protect their prerogatives prevent Congress from effectively monitoring the intelligence community.

The appropriations committee allocates the monitory appropriations of all the agencies and it is a large committee. The appropriations committee members read the reports of the committee with oversight over an agency and makes judgments about the appropriation size compared to what the agency committee has authorized. But with intelligence there is nothing of detail in the report so the appropriations committee have little or no idea of what they are appropriating money for. But the appropriations committee will not delegate the appropriation decision to the Intelligence Committee.

James Angleton

It's inconceivable that a secret intelligence arm of the government has to comply with all the overt orders of the government.

Juan Manuel Santos

I’m going to abolish the DAS in the next 3 or 4 months. I want to create a new and completely different intelligence agency. By abolishing the DAS we can take away the bad culture that has developed.

In Colombia DAS had hugh responsibilities for many interior functions as well as intelligence. Like the intelligence service of many countries the Colombia DAS developed a culture of torture and other human rights abuses. President Santos realized that the agency had developed and evil, undemocratic culture that most of the citizens feared and distrusted. In many such instances, it is almost impossible to reform such and agency and eliminating it and starting with a new set of people who can develop a new culture.

George Tenet

Directors of Central Intelligence are supposed to steer clear of policy.

Amy Zegart

One person should be in charge of the intelligence community and [making] sure that person is not the secretary of Defense

Richard Perle

George Tenet has been the director of central intelligence since 1997, time enough to have changed the Agency's culture. He has failed. He should go.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

We have actually experienced in recent months a dramatic demonstration of an unprecedented intelligence failure, perhaps the most significant intelligence failure in the history of the United States.

Jamie Gorelick

Intelligence is only as good as the pressure from the consumer of the intelligence makes it.

Ron Wyden

There has been a culture of misinformation among the intelligence leadership.

See {634917} for a recent example of lying under oath to the Senate.

Intelligence Accountability Quotes