139 



STATEMENT OF ROBERT N. GATES, DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL 



INTELLIGENCE 



Director Gates. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm here today at the 

 request of Senators Boren and Murkowski and the Senate Select 

 Committee on Intelligence to address two issues: possible environ- 

 mental threats resulting from past Soviet nuclear activities, and 

 the role of the Intelligence Community in addressing environ- 

 mental problems. 



Let me first briefly discuss the role of the Intelligence Commu- 

 nity with regard to environmental problems. 



As the Senate and House Intelligence Committees know, on No- 

 vember 15th last year the President signed the most far-reaching 

 directive to assess future intelligence priorities since CIA and the 

 Intelligence Community were created in 1947. The directive re- 

 quired some 20 policy agencies and departments to identify their 

 intelligence needs to the year 2005. Their responses highlighted the 

 increased importance of environmental concerns as an intelligence 

 issue. The National Security Council has integrated all of the ex- 

 pressed priorities into one overall document and the Intelligence 

 Community is using this document as a guide for reallocating its 

 resources. 



Policy makers and members of Congress are asking CIA and the 

 Intelligence Community to increase their study of environmental 

 issues because we have special skills, resources and unique in- 

 sights. For example, at the request of Senator Murkowski, a team 

 of analysts has been working to assess the potential environmental 

 consequences of long-term nuclear testing and waste disposal prac- 

 tices of the former Soviet Union. Earlier this year I was asked by 

 the President's Science Advisor, Dr. Allan Bromley, and Senator 

 Albert Gore to assist the National Aeronautic and Space Adminis- 

 tration in its effort to collect and analyze satellite data on the envi- 

 ronment. The project, called the Earth Observation System, will 

 help scientists answer some of today's most pressing questions on 

 the environment, such as how do the oceans, forests, deserts and 

 atmosphere interact as an integrated system, and is the earth's cli- 

 mate changing? CIA will provide guidance to NASA concerning the 

 most efficient means for processing the large quantities of data 

 that it is collecting for this project, because we have a great deal 

 of expertise in this area. 



At Dr. Bromley's suggestion, the Intelligence Community re- 

 cently assumed membership on the Committee on Earth and Envi- 

 ronmental Research, which has become the primary coordinating 

 body for national environmental problems and programs. Member- 

 ship on the Committee will provide the Intelligence Community a 

 better understanding of the Committee's activities and require- 

 ments and will improve intelligence support to our environmental 

 policy makers. 



Senators Gore and Murkowski also have asked whether CIA data 

 could be released to environmental scientist who are stud5dng glob- 

 al change; and I have agreed to form a team of cleared scientists 

 who will examine our data and determine what would be useful to 

 environmental science. 



Under the Congressionally-directed Dual Use Technology Initia- 

 tive, technologies developed under the auspices of the Intelligence 



