Statement on H.R. 2417

[Michael Kalus]

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http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031213-3.html

Statement on H.R. 2417
Statement by the President

Today, I have signed into law H.R. 2417, the "Intelligence 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004." The Act authorizes funding for 
United States intelligence activities, including activities in the war 
against terrorists of global reach.

Section 506A(c) of the National Security Act of 1947, as enacted by 
section 312(b) of the Act, purports to require the President to request 
that the Congress enact laws appropriating funding for a major 
intelligence system procurement in an amount set as a cost estimate by 
an entity subordinate to the President or to explain why the President 
instead requests amounts below those levels. Moreover, beginning with 
the submittal to the Congress of the President's budget for FY 2006, 
section 312(d)(2) of H.R. 2417 purports to condition the obligation or 
expenditure of funds for development or procurement of a major 
intelligence system on the President's compliance with the requirements 
of section 506A. The executive branch shall construe these provisions 
in a manner consistent with the Constitution's commitment to the 
President of exclusive authority to submit for the consideration of the 
Congress such measures as the President judges necessary and expedient 
and to supervise the unitary executive branch, and to withhold 
information the disclosure of which could impair the deliberative 
processes of the Executive or the performance of the Executive's 
constitutional duties.

Section 341(b) purports to require the Attorney General and the 
Director of Central Intelligence, acting through particular offices 
subordinate to them respectively, to establish certain policies and 
procedures relating to espionage prosecutions. The executive branch 
shall implement this provision in a manner consistent with the 
authority committed exclusively to the President by the Constitution to 
faithfully execute the laws and to supervise the unitary executive 
branch. Similarly, sections 1102(a) and 1102(c) of the National 
Security Act, as enacted by section 341(a) of the Act, purport to 
mandate that the Director of Central Intelligence use or act through 
the Office of National Counterintelligence Executive to establish and 
implement an inspection process for all agencies and departments of the 
U.S. Government that handle classified information. The executive 
branch shall implement this provision in a manner consistent with the 
President's constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive 
branch.

The executive branch shall construe and implement section 376 of the 
Act, relating to making available classified information to courts, in 
a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to 
classify and control access to information bearing on the national 
security and consistent with the statutory authority of the Attorney 
General for the conduct of litigation for the United States.

Many provisions of the Act, including section 106 and subtitle D of 
title III of the Act, seek to require the executive branch to furnish 
information to the Congress on various subjects. The executive branch 
shall construe the provisions in a manner consistent with the 
President's constitutional authority to withhold information the 
disclosure of which could impair foreign relations, national security, 
the deliberative processes of the Executive, or the performance of the 
Executive's constitutional duties.

The executive branch shall implement section 319 of the Act in a manner 
consistent with the requirement to afford equal protection of the laws 
under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the 
Constitution.

Section 502 purports to place restrictions on use of the U.S. Armed 
Forces and other personnel in certain operations. The executive branch 
shall construe the restrictions -in section 502 as advisory in nature, 
so that the provisions are consistent with the President's 
constitutional authority as Commander in Chief, including for the 
conduct of intelligence operations, and to supervise the unitary 
executive branch.

Section 106 enacts by reference certain requirements set forth in the 
joint explanatory statement of the House-Senate committee of conference 
or in a classified annex. The executive branch continues to discourage 
this practice of enacting secret laws and encourages instead 
appropriate non-binding uses of classified schedules of authorizations, 
classified annexes to committee reports, and joint statements of 
managers that accompany the final legislation.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

December 13, 2003.


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