Jane Harman) Democrat Says Spy Briefings Violated Law

[papau]

Jane Harman's letter to the White House claiming Congress has received insufficient briefings on the domestic spying program was significant, the New York Times Notes, because Harman was previously one of the few Democrats to support the program. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/05/politics/05nsa.html
Democrat Says Spy Briefings Violated Law

By SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 - The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said on Wednesday that the limited Congressional briefings the Bush administration has provided on a National Security Agency eavesdropping program violated the law.
In a letter to President Bush, the representative, Jane Harman of California, said the briefings did not comply with the National Security Act of 1947. That law requires the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to be "kept fully and currently informed" about the spy agencies' activities.
The briefings on the program under which Americans and other people in the United States are selected for eavesdropping without court warrants were limited to the so-called Gang of Eight. That consists of the Republican and Democratic leaders of each house and of the Intelligence Committees. Because of turnover in those positions, 14 members of Congress attended one or more briefings.
Ms. Harman wrote in her letter that the law allowed briefings to be limited to the eight leaders only in cases of covert action. The National Security Agency program does not qualify as a covert action, which the law says does not include activities whose "primary purpose is to acquire intelligence," she wrote.<snip>

[tishaLA]

1. She was talking about this on Ed Schultz today

I always think of her as basically a DINO, but she was very forceful about this. I have to say her vigor surprised me.

[kentuck]

2. The law says "kept fully and currently informed"...?

I guess that doesn't mean one or two members on the Committees..?