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Keynote Address
The Honorable Jane Harman (CA-36)
Ranking Minority Member
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Before the NDIA Space Policy and Architecture Symposium
July 20, 2004
Introduction
First, let me congratulate NDIA on hosting the 7th Annual Space Policy and Architecture symposium.
NDIA, under General Farrell, and my friend, Gary Pulliam, the chair of this symposium, deserve special credit.
Earlier this year, NDIA awarded Pete Teets the Bob Hope Award, which he richly deserved.
Pete spent a good part of his life in the Mile High City, which might explain why he was so attracted to space. And we're grateful that he came out of retirement to serve in this important post … we need more people like Pete Teets in Government.
Speaking of the Mile High City, let me also acknowledge Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado, my co-chair in the Space Power Caucus.
The 36th Congressional District
The District I represent is the aerospace center of the universe.
From military satellites…to space-based radar…to our nation's most secretive weapons systems…the cluster of military and space expertise in our district is unrivaled anywhere in the U.S., and I would argue, anywhere in the world.
Some of the major programs to come out of this area include:
California's 36th Congressional District also includes Los Angeles Air Force Base, home of the Space and Missile Systems Center, which will soon celebrate its 50th birthday.
As so many of you know, we like to say that it is the only Air Force Base with “vertical runways.”
Every day, development and acquisition projects led by base personnel help the Air Force accomplish the major goals as identified by Under Secretary Teets.
One of those goals is integrating space capabilities for national intelligence and warfighting--which is what I want to discuss with you today.
Why Space is So Crucial
Everyone in this room understands the importance of space to our national security.
John McLaughlin, the new acting DCI, appears to have a new motto: “We get it.”
Well, in terms of understanding the new role of space systems in the national security equation, this audience doesn't need a lecture--I know you “get it.”
Early on, Secretary Rumsfeld pushed the defense establishment to think creatively about how to expand the role of space.
And today, space is an integral part of everything we do militarily--from intelligence gathering, to weather forecasting, to global communications, to guiding precision munitions.
General Tommy Franks, who led our troops to victory in Afghanistan after 9/11, had it right when he told Congress that “Operation Enduring Freedom would not “have been successful…without space-based assets…it's just very simply a fact.”
Space Transformation
The topic of this symposium is “transformation.” And when I talk about “transformation,” what I fundamentally mean is “jointness.”
By that, I mean: how can we fuse together various technological developments to create a seamless space capability to support joint intelligence and warfighting missions.
Let me focus briefly on the two aspects of space transformation that directly impact U.S. national security:
- first, satellite communications systems;
- and second, satellite intelligence collection capabilities.
Communications
I said that “transformation” largely means “jointness.” And in the context of communications, “jointness” largely means “networking,” --the ability of all platforms, forces, and information systems to speak to each other, quickly, in real time, and in one language.
For both the military and the intelligence community, a key challenge is to be able to quickly assemble and integrate capabilities that are tailored to match a specific mission at hand – such as a terrorist threat in a particular country.
Military planners call this “plug and play”… We plug in a unit or a weapons system to a task force, and that unit or that weapons system needs to be able to “play” instantly.
This requires communications systems that work together. Robust, interoperable communications for deployed forces and other consumers are absolutely key to this capability.
High-capacity communications satellites can provide this capability.
These systems will enable our intelligence-gatherers--people, aircraft, ships, satellites -- to engage in fast, wireless communication with intelligence consumers who are often on the move, such as CIA case officers, special forces or strike aircraft.
Intelligence Collection
The second aspect of space transformation is satellite intelligence collection capabilities.
It is a simple fact that intelligence collected by a single type of sensor is rarely able to provide a sufficient level of insight into an event.
It is usually necessary to combine the data from multiple sensors to solve an intelligence problem--whether that problem is finding and destroying an enemy ground force or deciphering a missile test.
What we have begun to do, and what we must master as soon as possible, is to integrate the operations of diverse sensor systems in “real-time” --as events are unfolding.
No single sensor system can search over a wide area, initially detect a target, locate it precisely, identify it positively, and track it. We have individual sensors that can do all of these things – but we need them to operate as a single, integrated system.
We have started to have great success networking sensors across the services, across the national intelligence agencies, and between DoD and intelligence community systems.
But we have a long way to go.
The Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) program will improve on this situation. There will be more satellites available, and their orbits and other characteristics will be such that much more frequent “re-visits” and “passes” will be provided.
We already have persistent surveillance capabilities in the airplanes that are the mainstay of DoD's tactical intelligence capabilities.
But DoD airborne imagery systems often cannot see deep into denied areas.
It is precisely for that reason that we need to continue to develop the Space-Based Radar satellite program.
There are those who are already arguing that these systems are simply unaffordable – or will not provide benefits commensurate with their high cost. These criticisms might turn out to be right, but I submit it is too soon to tell.
If persistent space-based imaging is a “bridge too far,” then I will be the first to look for alternative investments. I do believe, however, that persistent imaging could be transformational and worth a large investment.
Intelligence Transformation
Space integration is important, but the major national security challenge we face is how to achieve integration of our intelligence agencies.
This issue is moving quickly to the front burner on Capitol Hill, and is the subject of a hearing today in the Senate.
The 9/11 Commission will recommend the creation of a Director of National Intelligence, a vital reform that is long overdue.
Just as integration is lacking in space technology, we fight separate intelligence wars – a SIGINT war, a HUMINT war, a MASINT war, etc.
This problem also plagued our military before 1986. We fought a Navy war, an Air Force war, an Army war, and a Marine war.
The genius of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act was that it allowed us to fight as one … under a unified Combatant Command.
In my view, we need Goldwater-Nichols for the intelligence community, and we need it now.
Strong intelligence is the most important weapon we have in the war on terrorism and in the current efforts in Iraq to protect our troops and secure the country. I call intelligence the “tip of the spear.”
But our current intelligence architecture was designed in 1947 to fight an enemy that no longer exists.
The hope back in 1947 was that the DCI and the CIA would provide the right blend of centralization of intelligence and of coordination between distributed intelligence capabilities. But the DCI has not succeeded in the role of “honest broker” coordinating the diverse community and managing a large agency with its own institutional agendas.
In reality, the DCI is consumed by the affairs and interests of the CIA and often lacks the time for, and the trust of, the rest of the community.
Several investigations have shown that this flawed organizational arrangement has been a major contributor to recent intelligence failures in Iraq and on 9-11.
Today, we have 15 agencies with different rules, cultures, and databases. Our 15 intelligence agencies do not function as a single community.
And so, nine of us the House Intelligence Committee have introduced H.R. 4104, the Intelligence Transformation Act, which seeks to address this issue head on.
The proposal would create a Director of National Intelligence, separate from the CIA Director, who would bring together operational managers from across the agencies to better integrate, streamline, and fuse resources, money, collection and analysis.
It is designed to make the community more effective, not more bureaucratic.
Let me tell you what we are not doing.
We are not proposing an “intelligence czar.” We are proposing a unified Intelligence Combatant Commander.
We are not proposing a whole new bureaucracy. We are not creating a new building, with new arm-patches. We are using modern technology to create a “virtual reorganization” that uses modern technology to promote information-sharing and joint tasking.
This is neither a Democratic nor Republican idea; it has bi-partisan parentage. In fact, it was the first recommendation of the bi-partisan, bi-cameral Congressional Joint Inquiry into 9/11.
Our proposal is different than past DNI proposals in that we believe it is more acceptable to senior Pentagon leaders…because it does not take budget execution authorities away from DOD or the Secretary of Defense.
The 9/11 Commission is the 3rd or 4th major Blue Ribbon Commission that has looked at the issue of terrorism--whose recommendations we ignore at our peril.
The President has warned that the terrorists are plotting to attack us before the election. But he wants to wait after the election to make crucial changes to our intelligence community.
We cannot afford to wait.
The President and Congress must act quickly to learn the lessons of 9/11 and enact serious, meaningful intelligence reform.
Conclusion
35 years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped off of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module onto the face of the moon. It was, as Armstrong famously said, “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Today, there are many similarities to that moment. Our country is at war… We have serious divisions here at home…
But the country is still hungry to take those “giant leaps” which strengthen us as a nation.
Transforming intelligence is the most important step we can take right now. And if we do it right, that step will be a giant leap forward…for the security of our country and our world.
Thank you.
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