United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Seal of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), also known as the House Intelligence Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Devin Nunes. It is the primary committee in the U.S. House of Representatives charged with the oversight of the United States Intelligence Community, though it does share some jurisdiction with other committees in the House, including the Armed Services Committee for some matters dealing with the Department of Defense and the various branches of the U.S. military.

The committee was preceded by the Select Committee on Intelligence between 1975 and 1977. House Resolution 658 established the permanent select committee, which gave it status equal to a standing committee on July 14, 1977.

Jurisdiction

The committee oversees all or part of the following executive branch departments and agencies:

History

Prior to establishing the permanent select committee in 1977, the House of Representatives established the "Select Committee on Intelligence", commonly referred to as the "Pike Committee", so named after its last chairman, Otis G. Pike of New York. The select committee had originally been established in February 1975 under the chairmanship of Congressman Lucien Nedzi of Michigan. Following Nedzi's resignation in June, the committee was reconstituted with Pike as chair, in July 1975, with its mandate expiring January 31, 1976. Under Pike's chairmanship, the committee investigated illegal activities by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The final report of the Pike Committee was never officially published, due to Congressional opposition. However, unauthorized versions of the draft final report were leaked to the press. CBS News reporter Daniel Schorr was called to testify before Congress, but refused to divulge his source.[1] Major portions of the report were published by The Village Voice, and a full copy of the draft was published in England.

The HPSCI during the 1980s worked to gain privileges to covert action notifications of the CIA, as well as strengthening the role of the committee in intelligence agency funding. Under the Reagan administration, the HPSCI and United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) worked with the Director of Central Intelligence William J. Casey on what was known as the "Casey Accords". The accords required that covert action findings were to be accompanied by "scope papers" that included a risk/gain assessment of each such activity. However, the deal was not acceptable for the HPSCI, and after the Iran-contra scandal, more pressure was placed on strengthening the oversight committees.[2]

In 2017, the committee was tasked along with the SSCI to determine the degree of Russian interference in 2016 US elections.[3] The committee also has been investigating allegations of wiretapping of President Donald Trump as well as ties between Russian officials and members of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.[4][5] The committee has come under intense scrutiny in 2017-2018 due to allegations of partisanship and leaks of classified information by members of the committee and their staff. In March 2018, the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections was abruptly ended by the committee's Republican members despite the assertion by Democratic members that the investigation was incomplete and had failed to properly go about gathering pertinent information. Notably, House Intelligence Republicans released a draft of their investigatory report which broke in some areas from the findings of the U.S. Intelligence Community and was written without the input of House Democrats.[6][7] In the wake of bitter divides in the committee's findings, House Intelligence Republican congressman Tom Rooney claimed the committee had "lost all credibility" and had become "a political forum for people to leak information to drive the day's news."[8] In July 2018, the chair of the committee, Representative Devin Nunes, accused the Department of Justice, and its Federal Bureau of Investigations, of "stonewalling" the committees investigation and taking partisan sides in regard to its Russia investigation.[9]

Committee members

115th Congress

Majority Minority

Source: U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence: HPSCI Majority and Minority Members.

114th Congress

Majority Minority
Ex officio

Subcommittees

Subcommittee Chair Ranking Member
The CIA Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
Department of Defense, Intelligence and Overhead Architecture Chris Stewart (R-UT) Terri Sewell (D-AL)
Emerging Threats Peter T. King (R-NY) André Carson (D-IN)
The NSA and Cybersecurity Tom Rooney (R-FL) Jim Himes (D-CT)

Chairs

Select Committee Chairs

Permanent Select Committee Chairs

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ U.S. House. Hearings Before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Investigation of Publication of Select Committee on Intelligence Report. 94th Congress, 2nd session. July 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28 and 29, September 8, 14, 15, 1976.
  2. ↑ Snider, L. Britt. The Agency & The Hill CIA's Relationship with Congress, 1946–2004. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/agency-and-the-hill/05-The%20Agency%20and%20the%20Hill_PartI-Chapter2.pdf. p. 63.
  3. ↑ "Donald Trump's habit of making accusations without evidence is corrosive". The Economist. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  4. ↑ "Five things to watch at the House Intelligence Committee's Russia hearing". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
  5. ↑ "House Intelligence Committee member on the Russia-Trump investigation: 'There is more than circumstantial evidence now'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  6. ↑ "Russia probe: House intel Republicans end investigation, find 'no evidence' of collusion". USA TODAY. 2018-03-12. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  7. ↑ Megerian, Chris (2018-03-13). "Republicans wind down House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation, claiming no evidence of collusion". latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  8. ↑ Squitieri, Jason (2018-03-13). "Republican member of House Intel Committee says it has 'lost all credibility'". CNN. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  9. ↑ Kredo, Adam (17 July 2018). "Intel Chair: FBI, DOJ Obstructing Trump Probe in Hope of Dem Takeover in Congress". Free Beacon. Washington, D.C. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
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