The Intelligence Committees

Until the 1970s, Congress oversaw intelligence agencies informally through a few senior members of the armed services and appropriations committees, who often preferred not to know details. Revelations by the Church Committee and the House Pike Committee of assassination plots, domestic spying, and other abuses led the Senate to create the Select Committee on Intelligence in 1976 and the House to create the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 1977.

The committees authorize the intelligence budget, receive classified briefings, review covert actions, which by law the President must report through written findings, and conduct investigations. They meet mostly in secure, closed facilities, and members and staff hold high-level clearances. The chairs and ranking members of both committees are part of the Gang of Eight, with the top party leaders of each chamber, who receive the most sensitive briefings. The Senate committee also handles nominations such as the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA director, and both play central roles in legislation on foreign intelligence surveillance.

Their effectiveness depends on cooperation between the parties, since the public cannot see most of their work. Periods of bipartisan oversight have alternated with partisan clashes, notably over the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, when the House committee split along party lines while the Senate committee issued a bipartisan report. In the 119th Congress the Senate committee is led by Tom Cotton, with Mark Warner as vice chairman, and the House committee by Rick Crawford, with Jim Himes as ranking member.