FOREIGN POLICY MAKERS| 477goal of successfully facilitating information-sharing and cooperation among vari-
ous intelligence agencies in government.
INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES
Agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security
Agency (NSA) are primarily responsible for government intelligence gathering.
Most of their work consists of gathering information from public or semipublic
sources, such as data on industrial outputs. However, these agencies also under-
take covert operations to acquire intelligence, use satellites and other technology
to monitor communications, or even attack individuals, other nations, or organi-
zations. The director of national intelligence in the EOP leads and coordinates the
activities of the various intelligence agencies.
CONGRESS
Although the president dominates foreign policy, several groups within Con-
gress participate in making foreign policy, and Congress can reverse or thwart
any presidential initiatives. The Committee on Foreign Aff airs in the House, and
the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate, are responsible for writing leg-
islation that deals with foreign policy, including setting the annual budget for
agencies that carry out those policies. These committees also hold hearings in
which they pose questions to foreign policy experts from inside and outside the
government.
There is an Intelligence Committee in both the House and the Senate; these
committees oversee covert operations and the actions of the CIA, NSA, and simi-
lar agencies. Current law requires the president to give Congress “timely notifi -
cation” of covert intelligence operations.^29 The intent is to ensure that someone
outside the executive branch knows about secret operations and can organize con-
gressional opposition if these actions are deemed illegal, immoral, or unwise.
Congress holds three types of infl uence over foreign policy, all of which force
presidents to compromise with members of Congress when their policy goals are
in confl ict. The fi rst is the power of the purse. Since members of Congress write
annual budgets for every government department and agency, one way for mem-
bers to shape foreign policy is to forbid expenditures on activities that members
want to prevent.
Second, the Senate has the power to approve treaties and confi rm the appoint-
ments of senior members of the president’s foreign policy team—including the sec-
retaries of state and defense, the director of national intelligence, and America’s
ambassador to the UN. Although it is rare for senators to reject a treaty or a nomi-
nee, sometimes they issue preemptive warnings about what kinds of treaties they
will accept or, more commonly, never put to a vote any treaties that might be voted
down.
Third, the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war on other
nations. However, as we saw in Chapter 10, the Constitution does not say that this
declaration must occur before hostilities can begin or whether the declaration is
necessary at all. In an attempt to codify war-making powers, in 1973 Congress
adopted the War Powers Resolution, although as we discussed in Chapter 10, the
question of which branch of the government ultimately controls America’s armed
forces remains controversial.