Statement on Appointments to the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community

I am announcing today appointments to the congressionally mandated Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community. The Commission will be chaired by the current Chairman of my Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, Les Aspin. Former Senator Warren Rudman will serve as the Vice Chairman, and I have asked General Lew Allen, Jr., Zoe Baird, Ann Caracristi, Stephen Friedman, Anthony S. Harrington, Robert J. Hermann, and Ambassador Paul Wolfowitz to serve as well.

These distinguished Americans will join the eight members appointed by the leadership of the 103d Congress. They are Tony Coelho, David Dewhurst, Representative Norm Dicks, Senator James Exon, former Senator Wyche Fowler, Representative Porter Goss, General Robert Pursley, and Senator John Warner.

Intelligence remains a critical element of our national power and influence. For over 40 years bipartisan support for the work performed by U.S. intelligence has been essential to the creation of an intelligence capability that is second to none. While the world has changed in dramatic ways, our need to retain the advantage that U.S. intelligence provides our country remains constant.

With the end of the cold war we must renew and reinvigorate this bipartisan support. The foundation for this support must begin with a thorough assessment of the kind of intelligence community we will need to address the security challenges of the future. Our objective is to strengthen U.S. intelligence, to ensure it has the management, skills, and resources needed to successfully pursue our national security interests through the next decade and beyond. It is an effort to which I attach the highest personal priority.

I am confident that Les Aspin, Warren Rudman, and the other outstanding members of this Commission will work cooperatively with the leadership of the intelligence community and the Congress to ensure continued bipartisan support for this critical mission. And I know that their effort will ensure the continued trust of the American people in the outstanding and often unheralded work performed by the men and women of U.S. intelligence.