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| Senators: Obama admin keeps Congress in dark on intel |
| 2010-05-23 |
| The Obama administration has failed to keep congressional intelligence officials in the loop on the investigation into the botched Times Square bombing, as required by law, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate intelligence committee charged in a letter this week. "Having to fight over access to counterterrorism information is not productive and ultimately makes us less secure," wrote Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and Vice Chairman Christopher S. "Kit" Bond in a letter to President Obama on Thursday. The senators said the lack of information has "caused serious friction in the relationship of the committee, on both sides of the aisle, and the executive branch." In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, the senators say U.S. intelligence agencies have repeatedly refused to provide relevant information on the probe into suspect Faisal Shahzad that would allow the committee to conduct oversight activities without hampering the ongoing investigation. Senate intelligence staffers were told that the Department of Justice had instructed the agencies not to convey information on the Times Square plot without its approval, they said. But a spokesman for the Department of Justice said FBI, Homeland Security Department and counterterrorism officials have conducted several briefings on the incident with various congressional committees, including a May 11 briefing with the Senate Intelligence Committee. Spokesman Dean Boyd said that briefing "was highly classified and no other Senate committee has received a briefing like" that one. Mr. Boyd also said the Justice Department has not told intelligence officials not to cooperate with lawmakers. "The Justice Department did not order anyone in the intelligence community to withhold information from the Senate Intelligence Committee in connection with the attempted bombing," Mr. Boyd said. "In fact, when the Justice Department was notified by certain intelligence agencies that they were planning to make calls to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, the Justice Department encouraged those agencies to do so." In the case of the failed New York City bombing attempt, in which a Pakistani native tried to detonate an SUV in Times Square, the senators said the Obama administration has refused to provide the committee with FBI reports that are widely circulated within the intelligence community. The senators said the "great majority" of their information came through public press conferences and media accounts that sometimes continued inaccurate information. "In the future, we hope and expect that an individual in the intelligence community will be designated to provide documents and regular, if not daily, briefings to the congressional intelligence committees on matters of high priority and interest so that we are able to discern between accurate and faulty reporting, and conduct our oversight duties," the California Democrat and Missouri Republican concluded. Sens. Feinstein and Bond said the only exception to the information blackout were phone calls from Michael E. Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Mr. Boyd said the Justice Department is "aware that in cases like this there is often a tension between the need to keep the appropriate Hill committees informed and the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and prosecution. We take very seriously our obligation to prevent ongoing investigations and prosecutions from being compromised, but we also take seriously the obligations of the FBI and other intelligence agencies to keep appropriate committees fully and currently informed." |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #10 Hitler, once in power controlled all the information and shut out the rest of the government,typical of a tyrant. Looks like zero is following the MK plan. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2010-05-23 13:13 |
| #9 It was above the fold on all the liberal rags even when Bush didn't do it tu3031. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-05-23 11:19 |
| #8 If Bush did this...front page of the Post. Above the fold. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-05-23 11:11 |
| #7 Sen. Leahy (D-Leaky) not complaining? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-05-23 10:20 |
| #6 The blind leading the naked.... |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2010-05-23 09:52 |
| #5 we hope and expect that an individual in the intelligence community will be designated to provide documents and regular, if not daily, briefings to the congressional intelligence committees on matters of high priority and interest So far this sounds like a legislative vs. executive tug-of-war. As much as I hate to side with Obama, the legislative branch has a terrible record wrt handling secret information, especially documents. |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2010-05-23 09:43 |
| #4 Obama doesn't trust his Democratically controlled Congress? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-05-23 09:21 |
| #3 Simply more Obama admin 'death by a thousand cuts' to the intelligence community and the military. Did anyone expect Barry to act otherwise? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-05-23 07:10 |
| #2 Obama admin Fixed it |
| Posted by: Abu do you love (laptop) 2010-05-23 01:49 |
| #1 OOOOOOOOO, Ouchies! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-05-23 01:35 |