General Management Laws and the 9/11 Commission's Proposed Office of National Intelligence Director (NID) and National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)

Publication Date: September 2004

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

Type:

Abstract:

To improve the organization and capabilities of the U.S. intelligence community, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (9/11 Commission) recommended, among other things, that two entities be established - a National Intelligence Director (NID) and a National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). The commission said that the NID should be located within the Executive Office of the President (EOP), and said the NCTC should report to the NID. Legislation designed to create these entities would place them either within the EOP (e.g., H.R. 5024 and H.R. 5050) or within an independent entity outside of the EOP (e.g., S. 2774 and H.R. 5040).

Questions have been raised regarding a number of issues associated with the establishment of the NID and the NCTC. One set of such questions centers on whether these proposed entities would be covered by various "general management laws" - broad statutes designed to regulate the activities, procedures, and administration of all or most executive branch agencies in such areas as regulatory and information management, financial management, procurement, and strategic planning. Earlier in 2004, CRS published a compendium of these general management laws and a companion report on major themes from these laws, with possible management policy options (CRS Report RL30795, General Management Laws: A Compendium; and CRS Report RL32388, General Management Laws: Major Themes and Management Policy Options).

This report examines whether more than 50 general management laws (e.g., the Administrative Procedure Act, the Inspector General Act, and the Competition in Contracting Act) would cover the NID and the NCTC under two scenarios: (1) if the entities were established within the EOP, and (2) if the entities were established as or within independent entities in the executive branch. The analysis focuses on the coverage of the selected management laws, not on whether the laws are likely to affect or apply to the NID or the NCTC. Also, some of the laws allow exemptions or contain other provisions that can affect their coverage.

In general, the report indicates that more of these management laws would appear to cover the NID and NCTC if they were created as independent entities in the executive branch than if they were placed within the EOP. In many cases, it was unclear whether the statutes' definitions of covered "agencies" included entities within the EOP. The report also indicates that Congress, if it so desires, could indicate that the NID and the NCTC would be covered by these management laws by either (1) amending the text of each of the management laws or (2) delineating in the statute creating the entities the particular management laws that should cover them. This report will be updated if additional information becomes available about the coverage of the management laws or if legislation creating the NID and the NCTC (or similar entities) is enacted.