In the midst of an array of NSA scandals and a pending reform battle, the Senate Intelligence Committee has approved the annual Intelligence Authorization Act, which bankrolls the NSA and the rest of America’s enormous spying community.
The bill passed 13-2 and appeared to make no effort to reform anything related to the NSA, and now moves on to be considered by the full Senate. The House version is still stuck in committee.
The bill may not have been interested in reforms, but that doesn’t mean it was totally oblivious to the NSA scandal, and it includes significant funding to target future leakers, and would empower the Director of National Intelligence to “investigate” potential leakers.
The vote on the bill took place in a “closed-door session,” and significant portions of the bill’s text are classified, so specifics are simply unavailable on a lot of the aspects of the bill.