White House pans intelligence bill over insider threat system deadline

Obama administration officials rejected an intelligence authorization bill set for a House vote Thursday, saying it undercuts funding and demands that the director of national intelligence roll out an insider threat detection system by an unreasonable deadline.

The technology, intended to prevent classified information disclosure on the scale of the WikiLeaks breach, would have to be partially operational by October 2012 and fully deployed by October 2013.

A statement of administrative policy that objects to the legislation, H.R. 754, reads, "The administration is concerned with the unrealistic timelines required by this provision for the program's operational readiness, and strongly requests that the provision be amended to grant the DNI flexibility in implementation timelines of the program."

Upon releasing the statement Wednesday, White House officials did not dispute that such equipment is necessary: "The administration wholeheartedly agrees with the need to be vigilant and proactive in trying to detect, mitigate and deter insider threats, and supports a comprehensive insider threat detection capability. The administration is currently working toward its implementation."

The appearance of a digital trove of sensitive military and foreign affairs documents on the anti-secrecy WikiLeaks website over the past year has renewed a debate over information sharing that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Back then, security analysts said federal agencies were not exchanging enough intelligence to understand America's adversaries. Now, there is a fear that too many eyes have access to such information.

A separate House measure, H.R. 1540, calling for the Defense Department to install a similar system within the same time frame, is expected to pass out of the Armed Services Committee this week. White House officials have not yet issued an opinion on that legislation.

Administration officials on Wednesday also said they are displeased with the intelligence bill because proposed reductions and realignments of funding would effectively take away more than $200 million that already has been appropriated for critical missions, including counterterrorism operations and analysis of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.