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| Goss blasts leaks in testimony |
| 2006-02-03 |
| CIA Director Porter J. Goss told a Senate committee yesterday that unauthorized leaks of classified information about agency activities have caused "severe damage" to the CIA's operations and that journalists who report leaks should be questioned by a grand jury. Appearing alongside Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte for an annual briefing on global threats for the Senate intelligence committee, Goss and other intelligence officials also defended the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program. Regarding disclosures about CIA detention and interrogation of terrorist suspects at secret sites abroad, Goss, the former chairman of the House intelligence committee, said that "the damage has been very severe to our capabilities to carry out our mission." He added: "It is my aim and it is my hope that we will witness a grand jury investigation with reporters present being asked to reveal who is leaking this information. I believe the safety of this nation and the people of this country deserves nothing less." The annual briefing sparked a fierce partisan battle over President Bush's widening claims of executive power, centered on the recently disclosed program of warrantless eavesdropping on the phone calls and e-mails of people in the United States suspected of communicating with terrorists overseas. Democrats charged that the White House has politicized the handling of intelligence by launching a week-long public defense of its efforts while refusing to divulge to Congress details of the program's reach. Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate panel, invoked the reliance on questionable intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war and alleged a "disturbing pattern" by the administration "to selectively release intelligence information that supports its policy or political agenda, while withholding equally pertinent information that does not." Rockefeller, one of the few members of Congress briefed on the spy program, asked "whether the very independence of the U.S. intelligence community has been co-opted . . . by the strong, controlling hand of the White House." The charges provoked a withering response from Republicans, led by committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who said Democrats were minimizing the threat of terrorism for political gain. "I am concerned that some of my Democrat colleagues used this unique public forum to make clear that they believe the gravest threat we face is not Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, but rather the president of the United States," Roberts said. He added that Democratic senators were under "marching orders" to attack Bush aides "and now members of our intelligence agencies." Yesterday's hearing was the first in a series of likely partisan scuffles over the National Security Agency spying program that will follow the White House's aggressive defense of the program's necessity and constitutionality, capped by Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is scheduled to appear as the sole witness Monday at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which may schedule more hearings on the topic in coming weeks. The Senate intelligence panel is scheduled to hear Feb. 9 from Gonzales and Negroponte's deputy, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, and hold a second closed meeting the following week. Under questioning by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Negroponte said Bush and Vice President Cheney authorized that disclosure of the program be limited to eight members of Congress: House and Senate leaders and the chairman and ranking member of each chamber's intelligence panel. Rockefeller said the information provided on the NSA's largest surveillance effort in the United States hardly amounted to briefings, particularly in contrast to details that Bush and top aides have publicly released in claiming its success at thwarting terrorist attacks. "This rationale for withholding information from Congress is flat-out unacceptable and nothing more than political smoke," he said. "What is unique about this one particular program, among all the other sensitive NSA programs, that justifies keeping Congress in the dark?" Negroponte's review focused on well-known threats to the United States -- al Qaeda and terrorism in general, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, particularly in Iran and North Korea. Negroponte said al Qaeda's most probable form of attack continues to be conventional explosives, although the terrorists remain "interested in getting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials or weapons." He said that if al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Zarqawi eludes capture or death and continues his attacks, he could "expand his following . . . much as [Osama] bin Laden expanded al Qaeda in the 1990s." Negroponte said Iran does not have a nuclear weapon or the key ingredients to build one. He made public the intelligence community's revised assessment that the country is further from achieving that capability than previously believed. Negroponte said that on its current path, Iran "will likely have the capability to produce a nuclear weapon within the next decade." One year ago, Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, then director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Congress that Iran was within five years of the capability to make a nuclear weapon. The new judgment is based on how soon Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for the core of an atomic bomb. Negroponte also said yesterday that North Korea's claims of a nuclear arsenal are "probably true." In the past, the CIA has assessed that the country had enough nuclear material for two or more weapons. Negroponte warned that Central Asian republics, some of which host U.S. forces, remain plagued by repression and other problems and that one or more might collapse, paving the way for terrorist activity. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #7 I think you hit the nail on the head re: Rockerfeller, SPo'D. Methinks the "gentleman" doth protest too much. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-02-03 19:58 |
| #6 Right on,BA. Negroponte is apparently another career diplomat "stuck on stupid" for only looking at state sponsored threats. Creating National Intelligence was necessary, but I hope he has lots of oversight. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2006-02-03 10:55 |
| #5 Rockefeller, one of the few members of Congress briefed on the spy program, asked "whether the very independence of the U.S. intelligence community has been co-opted . . . by the strong, controlling hand of the White House." Uh, I was always under the impression that the President was akin to being the CEO of the Executive Branch, so he should "control" the Executive Branch agencies, correct? Of course, I was taught this by reading the Constitution here in the "deep red" South, so whadda I know? Negroponte said that on its current path, Iran "will likely have the capability to produce a nuclear weapon within the next decade." One year ago, Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, then director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Congress that Iran was within five years of the capability to make a nuclear weapon. The new judgment is based on how soon Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for the core of an atomic bomb. Note that that timeline depended on IRAN producing the uranium. Now that AQ Khan has been outed, maybe they can just buy some of the black market. The gov't was blamed for 9/11 for not "connecting the dots" or "thinking outside the box" on unconventional attacks, but that is just stuck on stupid to ignore the nuclear black market these days. I'm no nuclear engineer, and I'm sure it's extremely hard to transport, but I seriously doubt it can't be done, especially by goons as "devout" as the Mad Mullahs(tm). |
| Posted by: BA 2006-02-03 10:15 |
| #4 "What is unique about this one particular program, among all the other sensitive NSA programs, that justifies keeping Congress in the dark?" Now that Russ ("I think Bush probably broke the law here") Feingold is on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I'm sure the administration will be much more willing to share sensitive information with congress. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2006-02-03 09:30 |
| #3 The Rockefeller family seems to have their hand in a little of everything. Besides the World Trade Center, which was blown on Bashar Assad's birthday, they donated the land for the United Nations building...are you lurking, AQ? They also played a part in relocating Palestinians when Israel was formed in 1948, and even have scrolls stored in the basement of the Rockefeller Museum in Israel. Tales of legendary Temple treasure supposedly buried to conceal it from the Romans, the locations inscribed the ancient map in one of the Dead Sea scrolls, prompted the Palestinians to demand the return of these scrolls as part of the peace deal. The Museum is in the the pre-1967 borders. David Rockefeller seems to be in the position to do most anything, but is not under the scrutiny elected officials are. Google the family...their extensive holdings and influence sure puts them in the position to control and leak at will. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2006-02-03 09:26 |
| #2 Oncce upon a time the Rockefellers were rich idealists. Gov. Nelson Rockefeller raised New York State's taxes outrageously, but gave us the nation's best roads and education system, among other things. This younger generation just wants power and to pour its bile on those it dislikes. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-02-03 06:17 |
| #1 Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate panel or one of his staff members is one of your leaks. He devised this plan last year to "get Bush" over intelligence gathering by manufacturing issues. The Rockefeller's are not worth the powder to blow them to hell. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2006-02-03 01:30 |