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| Feingold sees similarities between Bush and Obama on intelligence sharing | ||||
| 2009-10-15 | ||||
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) voiced his suspicion that the Obama administration is continuing some of the stonewalling practices of the George W. Bush administration when it comes to providing full intelligence briefings to the relevant committees in Congress.
“It neither mandates it nor precludes it,” Gompert responded, adding that he had discussed the issue with his lawyers at DNI after a meeting with Feingold last week. “I think that’s not a reasonable [interpretation],” Feingold quickly retorted. He then asked whether Gompert believed the real question about how much Congress should be briefed should focus on how and when, and not whether, it should be briefed.
Feingold said he has trouble assessing whether the Obama administration is using the Gang of Eight process properly because heÂ’s not a member of that elite group.
In June, Feingold voted against the nominations of Stephen Preston to be the CIAÂ’s general counsel and Robert Litt to be the DNIÂ’s general counsel because he believed they misread the National Security ActÂ’s congressional notification provisions. Specifically, Preston and Litt determined that, even though the Gang of Eight provision is only in Section 503, which covers covert action, and not in Section 502, which covers other intelligence activities, the authority to brief only the Gang of Eight could be read into the latter. GompertÂ’s response to Feingold appeared to show an alignment with PrestonÂ’s and LittÂ’s interpretation. Feingold has been complaining for years about the way the intelligence community has kept Congress informed, but the issue became even more sensitive during the summer when Democrats began complaining that the CIA had not kept them informed about a secret counterterrorism program because then-Vice President Dick Cheney was trying to conceal it from Congress.
While Feingold has applauded the efforts the Obama administration has made to end torture, he has repeatedly complained that the Obama administration has failed to provide enough disclosure to members and staffers on the Intelligence committees. While he has said the new administration is clearly more open than the Bush regime, earlier this year he accused the intelligence community of continuing to “stonewall and roadblock” information to the Intelligence panels. In a related point, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the administration and intelligence community have an opportunity to fix over-classification problems. He warned Gompert that he would continue to scrutinize which information is declassified and why that power and those decisions remain controlled by the executive branch of government. Feingold has become one of the president’s most vocal Democratic critics. A week ago Feingold scolded the White House for failing to show up to an oversight hearing to answer questions about executive-branch czars. | ||||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 For a moment there I've missed "sharing". |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-15 03:46 |