WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is demanding that the new intelligence czar provide them a report on progress in counter-terror information sharing.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., all members of the Homeland Security and Govermental Affairs Committee wrote Monday to Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte demanding the information-sharing implementation plan, required by the huge intelligence reform bill of 2004, is submitted to Congress without further delay.
The plan was due last December, the senators say.
"Although some progress has been made," they write, "in establishing the Information Sharing Environment" -- mandated by the reform law to enable the effective sharing of terrorism information and analysis capabilities among federal agencies and between them and state, local, and tribal governments -- "the relatively young (program) has already seen its second Program Manager, is not yet fully staffed, and has only completed an interim implementation plan."
In January last year, the Government Accountability Office added homeland security information-sharing to its "High Risk List," stating that they were "designating information sharing for homeland security as a government-wide high-risk area because this area, while receiving increased attention, still faces significant challenges."
"Effective congressional oversight, including our consideration of whether the (program) should be reauthorized, depends on our receipt and review of the implementation plan," write the senators.
