Senate Intelligence Authorization Act advances unanimously out of committee

The Senate Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) for Fiscal Year 2025, which contains several provisions on funding, legal authorities, and congressional oversight, recently passed out of the Senate Select Committee by unanimous vote and is headed for the Senate floor.

“The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 would continue to enhance the Intelligence Community’s ability to arm policy and decision-makers with the necessary information and tools to defend U.S. interests against foreign adversaries,” said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who co-authored eight of the provisions within the legislation. “This bipartisan bill would also improve the effectiveness of the security clearance process, and increase congressional oversight of the Intelligence Community.”

Provisions included:

1. Improvements to voting and election system security through cybersecurity penetration testing and accreditation.
2. Increased sanctions enforcement against terrorist and ransomware organizations, including revocation of visas of foreign nationals that endorse or promote terrorist activity.
3. Requiring increased focus by the Intelligence Community on the threat posed by ISIS and affiliated terrorist organizations.
4. Protecting important voluntary investments in watermarking and content authenticity by AI firms by creating penalties for those that deliberately push removal of those voluntary protections.
5. Guaranteeing continued support for victims of Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) by requiring the Intelligence Community to support Department of Defense AHI medical research.
6. Allowing more HAVANA Act payments to related brain injury victims within the CIA and other federal government agencies.
7. Mandating a government-wide reporting standard for AHI victims.
8. Elevating the appointment of the director of intelligence and counterintelligence at the Department of Energy to a Senate-confirmed position.

The legislation also sought greater intelligence sharing on specific opioids from China, an analysis of the likely outcome of the wars in Ukraine and Israel, the creation of an A.I. security center under the National Security Agency (NSA), and more. 

The committee advanced the combined act through a 17-0 vote.