http://www.washtimes.com,
The classified section of the 2006 intelligence authorization bill passed by the House reduces or eliminates funding for a small number of hugely expensive satellite programs, which critics charge have been set on a “disastrous path” towards lengthy delays and massive overspends by poor management and “sloppy performance.”
The chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., told United Press International that the programs in question have been monitored closely for several years, but that despite repeated requests by lawmakers not enough had been done to get their management and cost under control.
“It's not just saying 'we're concerned.' We've been saying that for three-and-a-half years,” he said.
Hoekstra added that the sprawling and fractious collection of agencies sometimes dubbed the intelligence community had repeatedly failed to come up with an overall plan for so-called technical collection — spying using satellites, listening devices or other gadgets — on which billions of dollars are secretly spent every year. As a result, “Money hasn't been spent as effectively as it could have been.” he said.
Hoekstra declined to discuss the programs — which are highly classified — in any detail, but characterized the bill's spending cuts as part line-in-the-sand and part shots-across-the-bows.
“This is not hasty… We have talked about this stuff for years,” he said, pointing out that concerns had been raised in legislation going back to the 2003 authorization bill.
