Explanation of the change in wording in S 2667 regarding intelligence gathering
PCOL previously published an op-ed piece which pointed out that one of the changes that appeared in Senator Dodd's Amended Peace Corps Bill (S 2667) that passed the Senate on October 16 was that the phrase "...No Peace Corps personnel or volunteers should have any relationship with any United States intelligence agency..." which was part of the original bill was dropped from the Amended Version of the bill and raised the question of why this phrase had been dropped.
Read and comment on this excerpt from an email from Dave Hibbard of the Peace Corps Charter which explains the reason that this phrase was dropped. The email also says that both Senator Chris Dodd and Representative Sam Farr, the authors of the original bill, are comfortable with that language. The issue has been raised and the question has been answered.
S 2667 is not a perfect bill - there is no such thing. But the bill is a huge step forward for the Peace Corps and for the Returned Volunteer community. For the record, PCOL supports passage of the Amended S 2667 by the House of Representatives during this lame duck session. Read the email at:
* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.
Explanation of the change in wording in S 2667 regarding intelligence gathering
The Peace Corps and White House objected to the inclusion of the wording about intelligence gathering (spying) because it IMPLIED that there may have been intelligence gathering in the past (which has never been the case) so all 3 parties (WH, PC and Senate Foreign Relations) agreed to leave it out. The language now includes the point that the Peace Corps will strictly do its own recruiting thus dissociating it from the Freedom Corps. And there has been no effort to place the Peace Corps under the Freedom Corps. There was a certain amount of political give and take to get to where we are now. However, both Chris Dodd and Sam Farr (and Mark Udall) are all comfortable with the language.
I hope this helps. At some point we all need to trust the process and support the bill. It will never be perfect, but its a lot more and better than what previously existed.
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Advocacy
Here are the original articles on Senator Dodd's Amended Peace Corps Bill which sparked the original concern.
Comparison of Senate and House Versions of the Bill
The Senate and House Versions of the Peace Corps Bill were originally identical. However the Senate Version (S2667) was amended on October 10. Compare the amended bill with the original bill.
