Senate agreement on covert information

Senators agreed Monday with the White House and House intelligence committee leaders on measures that would require the administration to share information on covert operations with a larger group of overseers.

The compromise might mean that Congress will pass an intelligence authorization bill this year, the first time since 2004.

Under a bill approved by the Senate on Monday night,the White House would be required to notify the full membership of both congressional intelligence committees of presidential directives to conduct covert action, known as "findings." At present, the administration is required to notify only the "Gang of Eight": the chairmen and ranking members of each committee and the party leadership in both chambers.

But the new language still gives the White House flexibility, including a 180-day period in which to notify all 22 House and 15 Senate intelligence committee members of a finding.

The White House can defer full notification even longer, according to the bill, if it provides "a statement of reasons that it is essential to continue to limit access" because of "extraordinary circumstances affecting vital interests of the United States."

The measure now goes to the House.

Some provisions of the bill approved Monday are carryovers from earlier drafts, such as the requirement that the White House provide the legal grounds for certain intelligence operations and estimates of whether "significant" costs or a "significant risk of loss of life" might be involved.

The latest version also includes a provision for "the head of a department or agency of the United States with responsibility for a cybersecurity program" authorized by presidential findings to report on the legality of its operations.

The compromise was first reported by Congressional Quarterly on Monday. White House officials did not respond to requests to comment.

Sources said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) retreated from a proposal by Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) to give the Government Accountability Office the authority to audit the performance of the CIA and other intelligence agencies. This provision and others in earlier versions had provoked veto threats from the administration.

The compromise measure requires only that the president and the GAO formulate rules on the investigators' future access to the intelligence agencies.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans who confirmed the outlines of the bill Monday requested anonymity because of the sensitive state of the negotiations.

But Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said Monday night that he was on board with the new language.

"We can do more to protect Americans from attack," he said in a statement, "and passing the intelligence authorization bill and improving congressional oversight over our spy agencies is an important first step."

Stein writes the SpyTalk blog at washingtonpost.com/spytalk.