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kwame k
02-17-2009, 10:38 AM
It is perhaps now common wisdom that throughout the past eight years, the Bush-Cheney administration too often abused the intelligence process, used intelligence as a political tool, disregarded the laws that govern intelligence collection and circumvented the congressional oversight committees, restricting their access to key information.

The level of distrust between the Bush-Cheney administration and Congress over intelligence matters was appalling. The effect on public confidence, and on the morale of our intelligence professionals, was devastating and entirely unnecessary.

But change is coming. At long last, the Obama administration brings the opportunity for our country to chart a new course and restore integrity and credibility to intelligence processes that have been profoundly damaged.

As chairman, vice chairman and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee for eight years, and a U.S. senator for 24 years, I cherish deeply the responsibility bestowed upon me to protect and defend the freedoms of the American people and to keep our nation secure.

If there is a single principle that these past eight years reaffirmed for me, it is that congressional oversight of intelligence activities is absolutely fundamental to fulfilling our duties.

Congress is the only independent reviewer of the legality and effectiveness of secret intelligence activities and the only independent check on programs that are not always in the overall interest of our national security or our democracy. Yet Congress is wholly dependent on the executive branch for information on the intelligence activities we oversee. And we can act effectively only when all members of the bipartisan House and Senate intelligence committees are informed fully and promptly, as required by law.

During the Bush-Cheney era, we saw affirmative efforts to prevent Congress from performing true oversight on matters ranging from warrantless wiretapping to the decision to go to war in Iraq.

One of the most notable abuses was the CIA’s secret detention and interrogation program, which was kept from the full oversight committees for four years, until September 2006 — just a few hours before President George W. Bush publicly disclosed its existence and announced that all the CIA detainees were being transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

As with many other programs, the Bush-Cheney administration then disingenuously declared to the public that Congress had been fully informed — entirely distorting the limited, flip-chart briefings given to just eight members of Congress and with strict prohibitions against consulting other members of Congress or the legal and intelligence experts on the committees.

In effect, the Bush-Cheney administration twisted and expanded a narrow legal exception for notifications regarding extremely sensitive covert actions into standard operating procedure for any controversial program. The so-called gang of eight notifications, originally intended to protect American lives during ongoing covert operations, became a cynical mechanism to prevent congressional oversight and mislead the public.

Now, outgoing senior Bush-Cheney officials are as eager as ever to tell their same old story. But their record of dodging accountability for their intelligence activities is clear, and it will become even more troubling as we are able to unearth more of the relevant documents and decisions.

The Obama administration will face difficult decisions as it moves to undo damaging policies, but it brings to the table a strong commitment to government transparency and inclusion.

As outgoing chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I am proud that we exposed the Bush-Cheney administration’s unforgivable spin of the intelligence regarding Iraq; that we created a safe harbor for the intelligence community to offer honest analysis without regard to the White House’s political aims; that we brought the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program under a system of law that protects Americans’ civil liberties; and that we insisted upon briefings to the full membership of the House and Senate Intelligence committees regarding interrogation and detention practices. These were tough battles, fought — with mixed success — largely behind the scenes and without ever breaching classification rules or threatening our national security.

Moving forward, we need partnership, rather than confrontation. The intelligence community must brief the entire membership of the intelligence committees on all noncovert action intelligence activities. There is no basis in law, and no legitimate rationale, for withholding information about intelligence collection programs authorized and overseen by Congress.

Moreover, Congress, through the intelligence committees, must be consulted before new covert action findings are issued. Raising questions and working through them in advance are the only way to produce sound policies boosted by congressional support. And once the president authorizes a covert action, he should inform the entire committee. The only exceptions should be the very rare instances when the president uses his Gang of Eight authority for a limited period of time to protect an ongoing operation where lives are in immediate danger.

As we enter a new period committed to openness and change and bid farewell to an era of obscurity and dishonesty, there is the potential for great progress to be made. The trust between the executive branch and Congress has been breached, and the trust and confidence of the American people have eroded. But I remain confident that, if we restore the vital role of Congress in overseeing our intelligence activities, we can bridge the divide, restore integrity and get back to the business of lawfully and effectively securing this great nation.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence since 2001, served as its chairman from 2007 to 2009 and its vice chairman from 2003 to 2007.

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090217/pl_politico/18906;_ylt=AsjS.81ukeIzuVK.J1AfQwqyFz4D)

kwame k
02-17-2009, 10:39 AM
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence since 2001, served as its chairman from 2007 to 2009 and its vice chairman from 2003 to 2007.


Says the guy who was in charge........