Dianne Feinstein

The Army Corps of Engineers is asking Congress to sign off on new tools in their fiscal 2020 budget that would help them reduce a $98 billion backlog of civil works construction projects by involving the private sector.

President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Central Intelligence Agency’s legal department earned bipartisan support on Wednesday after promising to address the cybersecurity concerns voiced by the intelligence community’s leadership.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch testified before the Senate appropriations subcommittee on the plan to expand the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the hiring of 200 special agents and investigators for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, as well as the investment in the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network and National Firearms Act applications.

Senate Select Intelligence Committee chairs Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said they expect the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act will reach the Senate floor for debate in about 10 working days. They’re both open to changes to the bill, as long as they don’t alter the basic core of the legislation.

“Slow and disjointed” is how Senator Dianne Feinstein, former chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, described the federal document declassification process. But a routine inspector general report found no violations within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Such reviews are required under a law called ROCA, the Reducing Over-Classification Act. The review only recommended “refinement.” Charles McCullough is the Intelligence Community’s Inspector General. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss the report and how some of the other intelligence agencies stacked up next to DNI.

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee said the longer we wait on cybersecurity legislation, the worse it gets for cyber attacks on the U.S.

The movie “Zero Dark Thirty” suggests the CIA’s harsh interrogation techniques led the U.S. to Osama bin Laden. Sen. John McCain watched the movie Monday night and says it left him sick – because it’s wrong.

The Select Committee on Intelligence member wrote a letter to White House Cyber Coordinator Michael Daniel asking him to make sure any mandate doesn’t harm the networks used for interactive computer services.

Sen Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) called on President Obama to issue an executive order on cybersecurity rather than wait for Congress to act on legislation under consideration.

The pressing need for cybersecurity legislation has led to widely divergent paths in the House and Senate. The House has opted for a more incremental approach, while the Senate has crafted comprehensive legislation