It’s not just section 224 of the FY 27 National Defense Authorization Act, the provision for the integration of the U.S. and Israeli militaries that we have to worry about. Now we also have to worry about section 622 of the draft intelligence authorization bill currently before the U.S. Congress. Entitled “United States-Israel Intelligence Sharing Enhancement,” it would require the President, acting through the director of national intelligence and, as necessary, the secretary of defense, to “expand and enhance intelligence sharing with the Government of Israel” on a list of subjects that encompasses almost every topic of intelligence interest in the Middle East. It would also prohibit any suspension, reduction, or limitation of such sharing “except on the basis of a specific and identifiable national security concern determined by the President.” Any such exception would require a report to Congress within fifteen days, detailing not only the reason for the change but also the categories of information involved. The same report would require an assessment of the anticipated impact on regional security and various other matters.
Former CIA official Paul Pillar calls attention to Section 622 in a June 10 article in Responsible Statecraft, describing it as “one of several recent moves by those in Washington who carry the Israeli government’s water to keep the United States tied to Israel despite plummeting support for the country among the American public.”
“Israel’s strategy and that of its U.S. supporters is now to rely on ties with, and support from, the United States that are not as salient as the military aid with its prominent price tag. The strategy includes forms of military integration that are less visible than congressionally appropriated grant aid and therefore less publicly accountable. Section 224 of a defense authorization bill currently in the House of Representatives embodies this form of integration,” Pillar writes. “The mandating of intelligence sharing carries this strategy further by moving it into the shadowy world of relations between intelligence agencies. That world is even farther removed from public visibility and accountability than the defense integration, and even less likely to stimulate thoughts about American taxpayers’ money going to a foreign country. So far, Section 622 of the intelligence bill has received less attention than Section 224 of the defense bill.”
