CONGRESSIONAL ALERT: 9-11 Commission, Proposed Open Source Agency, $3B at FOC?
Proposed Sponsor: Government Operations/Government Reform
Shared Jurisdiction:Appropriations, Armed Services, Commerce, Foreign Relations/
International Affairs, Governmental Affairs/Reform, Intelligence, Judiciary
Other Beneficiaries:Agriculture, Budget, Energy, Environment, Finance, Health, Small Business
Bottom line: The proposed Agency creates a capability that will simultaneously eliminate all the deficiencies in U.S. Government access to international open sources in 33+ languages 24/7, with equal benefits to White House, Congress, public diplomacy, intelligence, and defense, while also creating Community Analysis Centers in each state (IOC $2.5M, FOC $30M per state) where the “seven tribes” of intelligence can cooperate under state rather than federal sovereign direction.
9-11 COMMISSION RECOMMENDS OPEN SOURCE AGENCY: BUSINESS, ACADEMIC, AND MEDIA LEADERS URGED TO SPEAK UP FOR ITS INDEPENDENCE FROM SPIES
Washington, D.C., July 28/PRNEWSWIRE/ -- According to Robert David Steele Vivas, CEO of OSS.Net, Inc., a global commercial intelligence corporation, “The recommendation by the 9-11 Commission that a new Open Source Agency be established (albeit without comment or proposed budget), should be the subject of Congressional discussion in the coming weeks. It is vital that business, academic, and media leaders speaker up to keep this agency independent or they will not derive the intended benefits. Recommended as a means of ensuring America has access to openly-available foreign language information, the potential contributions of this new agency to business intelligence, academic research, and media investigations cannot be understated.”
“There are seven intelligence tribes,” Steele says, “and six of them will never trust the spies—the national intelligence tribe—when it comes to the delicate topic of sharing information without being perceived as having become an ‘agent’ of the ‘spooks.’ A more appropriate model for the Open Source Agency, one that will allow it to serve the American business community, including small businesses all across America that need improved information about global risk, is that of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a federal agency visibly independent of both intelligence and defense, but ably serving national security needs under the oversight of the Secretary of State.”
“In my view, the Open Source Agency should be under the jurisdiction of the Government Reform Committee on the House side, and Government Operations on the Senate side. It is intended to be a service of common concern that can contribute to intelligence reform, to acquisition reform, and to governance reform. However, and I stress this, the jurisdictions with the most to gain are those that do not receive adequate classified intelligence support—including state & local authorities.”
A very ugly rough copy of draft legislation has been posted to today. Its primary purpose is to ensure that preliminary discussion of the new Agency is fully informed by the possibilities that have been discussed in Congressional and other circles over the years. An initial budget of $125M per year, and a final budget at full operational capability of $3B billion a year, has been proposed.
Steele says, “I urge all concerned citizens and especially business and Chamber of Commerce leaders to read the proposed legislation, and call their Senators and Representatives to support the independence of this new agency. It’s time we had a proper public intelligence agency in America.”
SOURCE: OSS.NET -0- 07/28/2004 /CONTACT: Robert David Steele Vivas703-242-1700, or . Web: Note: Recommendation appears on page 413 of the 9-11 Report. Of all the recommendations, this is the only one subject to quick clean legislative action prior to the elections..