Congress isn’t in the loop

Our editorial on today’s Opinion pages notes that Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a hawkish Bush supporter, sent the president a harsh letter recently after learning (from a leak) that his committee had not been briefed on what he called a “major” and “significant” secret intelligence program.
It’s legitimate to raise concerns about media leaks and whether they compromise national security. But here’s what complicates the issue: What if the Bush administration is keeping top lawmakers in the dark about major programs over which they’re supposed to have oversight?
Leaks become the oversight of last resort.
Posted by Randy Scholfield

20 Comments

  1. Ben Huie
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 9:10 am | Permalink

    Brown-nose Pat Roberts has said he doesn’t want to know any more than he already does – i.e. nothing.

  2. Darwin'sDisciple
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 10:53 am | Permalink

    Below is a .pdf of Hoekstra’s letter. It is pretty strong. What is interesting about this story is that Hoekstra has been a large supporter of the more agressive power grabs by the Bush administration. So these criticisms might really mean something.

    http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20060709hoekstra.pdf

  3. Darwin'sDisciple
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 11:00 am | Permalink

    “Whistle blowers”, “patriots”, “traitorous leakers”, “felons”, “free press” “terrorist sympathizers” — All of the above are concepts/terms that require sorting out given the Bush administration’s ambiguous use of them.

    I’ve never read 1984, maybe it is time.

  4. Darwin'sDisciple
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 11:04 am | Permalink

    As Hoekstra says here:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/10/washington/10hoekstra.html?_r=1&oref=slogin the programs he’s referring to are not the NSA wiretapping or Bank monitoring program. It is something else. Makes ya wonder what?

  5. RD
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 11:18 am | Permalink

    DD,

    I haven’t read 1984 either, but I did see most of the movie, late one night. Gave me chills.

    Here’s a link to the novel online. I don’t know if it’s an abridged edition, but it’s a start, if nothing else. And there are some interesting comment posts on it.

    http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/

  6. Ben Huie
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 11:50 am | Permalink

    Note the Ministry of Truth (FOX etc) and the Ministry of Peace (Rummy and Rice)

  7. Darwin'sDisciple
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 11:51 am | Permalink

    Thanks, RD.

  8. Dingus
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 7:12 pm | Permalink

    Maybe Congress is out of the loop because there stupid and incompetent

  9. RD
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 7:30 pm | Permalink

    Ben,

    Very scary. I saw the movie on TV almost 2 years ago, and even then I got chills. I remembered Bush saying, “When I’m talking about war, I’m talking about peace.” (Not a direct quote.)

    WAR IS PEACE…..FREEDOM IS SLAVERY…..IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

  10. gster
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 8:00 pm | Permalink

    RD- You’re right- that is scary. What is even worse is the fact that Bush isn’t smart enough to come up with that stuff on his own; makes you wonder just who is pulling his strings. ??

  11. RD
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 9:18 pm | Permalink

    gster, my guess is Cheney, Rove, and others we may not even know about. But W himself? Nah. Although he sure does know how to be a patsy.

  12. RD
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 9:25 pm | Permalink

    Here’s the war/peace quote from GW.

    “I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.” —Washington, D.C. June 18, 2002

    And for those who insist on a link…

    http://www.innocentenglish.com/funniest-bushisms.html

  13. gster
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 9:37 pm | Permalink

    RD- My guess is also Cheny, Rove and others we don’t want to know about, or more probably ,don’t want to think about!

  14. CrusaderX
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 9:55 pm | Permalink

    Q:Bush isn’t smart enough to come up with that stuff on his own; makes you wonder just who is pulling his strings. ??

    A:Satan

  15. steve
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 10:09 pm | Permalink

    The mid-east is reaching boiling point, and we’ve got an idiot for a president!

  16. heartlander
    Posted July 13, 2006 at 11:59 pm | Permalink

    Everyone should read “1984″ and watch the movie. “War is Peace.” Riiight.

  17. Tony
    Posted July 14, 2006 at 12:09 am | Permalink

    I think its about time we pull back our forces from all over the world and protect our borders.

    The next large regional conflict is about to break out in the Middle East and its going to involve countries from Eastern Europe to Middle Asia to Northern Africa.

    It will be a war between Christians & Jews vs the Muslims. I think we need to kick back and let them fight it out on their own… So a few million get killed in the process, lets worry about our own ass’s.

  18. RD
    Posted July 14, 2006 at 11:23 am | Permalink

    The U.S. maintains bases in approximately 114 countries.

  19. Ben Huie
    Posted July 14, 2006 at 2:45 pm | Permalink

    steve – worse than that. We have an “ends-timer” for president.

  20. steve
    Posted July 14, 2006 at 10:45 pm | Permalink

    Looks like everythig is going by his biblical interpretation of Revelations, he must be praising the lord for being the chosen one, or is he the beast?