The Senate, miffed at not knowing about a $310 million building for a secret spy agency, voted to halt further spending for the project until it learns more about it.
Coming two days after members of the Senate Intelligence Committee publicly disclosed the project, the vote Wednesday reflects anger among lawmakers that work could have gone on for four years without their knowledge."It is outrageous that we are just learning now of the huge expense of this facility," said Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nevada, a member of the intelligence panel. "This isn't a building; it's a gold-plated palace."
In another unanimous voice vote, the Senate also passed an amendment requiring all intelligence organizations to disclose in a specific budget line item any building project of more than $300,000.
Sen. David Boren, D-Okla., who chaired the intelligence panel at the time the building project got under way, proposed the amendment, saying, "The members of the Intelligence Committee, at the time, were misled."
But not all senators agreed.
Sen. Malcolm Wallop, R-Wyo., a member of the committee, criticized the panel for failing to exchange information among its own members.
"This is as much the committee's fault as it is of the National Reconnaissance Organization," Wallop said on the Senate floor. "There is no exclusive blame."
Both amendments were made to a $244 billion defense appropriations bill for fiscal 1995. That measure has not yet received final pas-sage.
Earlier Wednesday, officials representing the CIA and the Pentagon insisted they had fully disclosed to Congress the con-struc-tion project, which is to house the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that operates the government's spy sat-el-lites.
The NRO submitted documents to the Senate Intelligence Committee showing the administration had provided specifics on the planning, construction and cost of the buildings to Congress on at least nine occasions since 1990.
That testimony was supported by Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, who said there is a clear paper trail showing the Senate panel knew far more about the project than its protests would suggest.
"I think this is a personal vendetta between (Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman) Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) and (CIA Director) Jim Woolsey," Dicks said.