Don’t Let the Intelligence Community Kill Congressional Oversight – Maintain the Confirmation of CIA and ODNI Lawyers

Provisions buried in the Senate Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 would eliminate one of the few public checks on two of the nation’s most secretive and powerful intelligence agencies.

Sections 601(f) and (g) of the bill would end Senate confirmation for the general counsels of the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). PPSA joined a coalition of leading civil-liberties organizations from the left and the right to urge Congress to strike these provisions.

As the coalition’s letter explains:

“The general counsels of the CIA and ODNI wield extraordinary influence, and they do so entirely in secret, shaping policies on surveillance, detention, interrogation, and other highly consequential national security matters.”

These officials are not merely agency lawyers handling routine questions. They help determine the legal limits of what intelligence agencies may do to Americans, including warrantless domestic spying. Yet very few CIA or ODNI officials require Senate confirmation, and much of the congressional intelligence-oversight process takes place behind closed doors.

Confirmation hearings provide a rare opportunity for senators – and the American public – to examine the legal judgments, records, and commitments of officials who will exercise enormous power in secret.

Then-Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), now a PPSA Senior Policy Advisor, used the confirmation hearing of an Obama administration nominee to raise questions about the CIA’s interrogation program. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) secured a commitment concerning a secret legal opinion on cybersecurity. During the Bush administration, the Senate raised concerns about nominee John Rizzo’s involvement in the CIA detention and interrogation program, leading him to withdraw his nomination.

Confirmation hearings have also empowered senators to question nominees about surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As the letter notes, eliminating that opportunity “strips away a key safeguard and undermines the credibility of those who argue that Section 702 does not require reform because it is subject to oversight.”
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Secret power requires more oversight, not less. Congress should strike Sections 601(f) and (g) and preserve Senate confirmation for both general counsels.

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