Panel wants intelligence cost reports

WASHINGTON, May 28 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush would have to tell the public each year how much the National Intelligence Program costs under a new Senate authorization bill.

That was made clear in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence language approved for the 2007 measure, The Washington Post said. The president would also be required to report significant intelligence matters, such as the National Security Agency surveillance program, to all members of the panel.

"We have taken steps to reassert Congress' constitutional role as a check and balance to the Executive Branch," Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., vice chairman of the panel, said.

Covering intelligence efforts of 16 agencies, the National Intelligence Program is under Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte. Its budget is said to make up more than 75 percent of the estimated $44 billion annual spending on intelligence.

The Senate committee also directed Negroponte to study the "advisability" of publicly disclosing the budgets for each agency.