November 09, 2023

Castro, Gallagher Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Intelligence-Sharing Across Federal Government

WASHINGTON – Today, senior members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Mike Gallagher (WI-08), who is also chairman of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, introduced the Open Source Intelligence Availability Act, which would require the U.S. intelligence community to develop a plan to make unclassified intelligence products derived from open-source intelligence (such as translations of public documents produced by foreign governments) available to other U.S. federal agencies and entities, including Congress. The bill would also require the intelligence community to update Intelligence Community Directive 208 to streamline procedures to produce and disseminate unclassified intelligence products derived entirely from open-source intelligence and determine which entities and individuals should have access to that information.

“Over the last several years, the intelligence community has made important investments in open-source, unclassified intelligence that could play an important role in decision-making in Congress and other federal agencies if it was shared more widely,” said Congressman Castro. “The Open Source Intelligence Availability Act will close critical gaps in our information ecosystem and help all our federal agencies do a better job of serving the American people. I thank Chairman Gallagher for his partnership on this effort and look forward to advancing our bill through Congress.”

 “There’s no reason for any unclassified open-source intelligence to be siloed off from other parts of U.S. government. This is a common-sense bill that ensures that every agency across the federal government is tracking cleared intelligence products that can improve their agency's work and keep Americans even safer,” said Congressman Gallagher.

The bill text of the Open Source Intelligence Availability Act can be viewed here.

During the 117th Congress, Reps. Castro and Gallagher introduced the Open Translation and Analysis Center Authorization Act, which would establish the Open Translation and Analysis Center (OTAC), a new federally funded research and development center charged with translating important open source material from China, Russia, and other countries of strategic interest. The translated material from OTAC would be available on a public website, serving as a key resource for the U.S. and allied governments, media outlets, academics, and analysts around the world. The Fiscal Year 2023 Intelligence Authorization required the intelligence community to develop and provide to Congress a comprehensive report on the feasibility of establishing OTAC. The report is currently pending.