Eyes Forward on Intelligence-By Bob Graham: Torture 'Demonstrates Relationship Has Been Shattered'

Eyes Forward on Intelligence
By Bob Graham
Thursday, May 21, 2009

Since President Obama released the "torture memos" -- the legal analysis of the Bush Justice Department on which the CIA predicated its enhanced interrogation techniques -- a familiar pattern regarding U.S. intelligence has recurred: We have become fixated on the rear-view mirror to the exclusion of what is coming toward us. While much discussion has focused on what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was told seven years ago, the more important issue is the reform urgently needed in the relationship between the intelligence community, the executive branch and Congress.

For more than a year, I have chaired a congressional commission reviewing U.S. vulnerability to a weapon of mass destruction. The unanimous conclusion of our nine members, Republicans and Democrats, was that it is more likely than not that such a weapon will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere before year-end 2013. The commission made 13 recommendations to reduce this probability, many of which rely on intelligence as the first line of defense.

Avoiding a potentially catastrophic attack using weapons of mass destruction starts at the top, with reform of the interaction between the intelligence community and the executive and legislative branches. Congressional intelligence committees were created in the 1970s to ensure accountability. If the committees were fully informed of the intelligence community's anticipated activities, the thinking went, a level of accountability would be provided before specific programs were implemented. Brought in early, the committees would share a sense of responsibility and might be less inclined to point fingers in the event of an intelligence failure. The controversy over "enhanced interrogation techniques" demonstrates that this relationship of mutual respect and sharing of consequences has shattered. Indeed, the CIA's calendar of legislative briefings indicates that even the appearance of congressional notification occurred after waterboarding and other extraordinary methods of interrogation had been in use for weeks.

The president and leaders in Congress should immediately begin the consultations that will build mutual confidence and help take us back to the original ideal. While that is most important, other work must also be done if we are to sustain a relationship of shared responsibility.

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