Ally (Peter Hoekstra -R Mich)Warned Bush Over Shrouding Spying Programs

[papau]

I wonder how the New York Times got the copy of the four-page letter dated May 18 from Peter Hoekstra http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20060709hoekstra.pdf, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, to Bush, which was sent on the day Bush decided, against Hoekstra's wishes, to name Gen. Michael V. Hayden to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, with Stephen R. Kappes as his deputy. despite Hoekstra's feeling that Mr. Kappes prior experience at the CIA showed him to not be a knee jerk supporter of Bush.

Does anyone think that Hoekstra really wants to start following the National Security Act requirement that the agencies keep the Congressional intelligence committees "fully and currently informed of all intelligence activities."? Perhaps we can now start to get real, as required by law briefings, even in the case of especially sensitive covert actions, of the minimum group - the leaders from both parties of the committees and the House and Senate.

Nah - after defending no briefings or "limited" briefings on the N.S.A. warrant-less eavesdropping, which focuses on the international communications of Americans and others inside the United States, and giving no briefings on the Treasury Department's bank monitoring program, that goes beyond the monitoring of SWIFT international money transfers (the Brussels-based consortium), supporting torture without charge or lawyers or courts of "terrorist suspects", refusing, after agreeing, to investigate pre-war intelligence on Iraq.supporting leak investigations )of the media only) only when the leak embarrassed Bush, the only reason Hoekstra is complaining is because Bush and his fellow neo-cons only kissed one of his cheeks rather than both of them in the Kappes appointment, and because they embarrassed him in exposing his con job of trying to confuse the public that WMD had really been found when it was 15 year old weapons less harmful that ones under sink cleaners, and because he was unable to defend his buddy Porter J. Goss, who was forced out as C.I.A. director in early May.

But one does wonder what new illegal classified activities Hoekstra knows about and what agencies they involve.

actual letter: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20060709hoekstra.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-security-bush.html

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A key Congressional ally of President Bush sent a sharply worded letter to the president in May warning that the administration might have broken the law by failing to inform Congress of some secret intelligence programs, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.<snip>

Hoekstra was among those who were briefed on, and supported, the National Security Agency's controversial domestic surveillance program and the Treasury Department's tracking of international banking transactions, the Times said.

``I have learned of some alleged intelligence community activities about which our committee has not been briefed,'' Hoekstra wrote.

``If these allegations are true, they may represent a breach of responsibility by the administration, a violation of the law, and, just as importantly, a direct affront to me and the members of this committee who have so ardently supported efforts to collect information on our enemies,'' the Times quoted the letter as saying.<snip>

The domestic spying program, which Bush ordered soon after the September 11 attacks, allows the National Security Agency to monitor the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens without first obtaining warrants if in pursuit of al Qaeda suspects. The program has stirred an outcry among civil-rights groups and lawmakers who believe Bush overstepped his constitutional authority.

Ally Warned Bush Over Shrouding Spying Programs
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON, July 8 — In a sharply worded letter to President Bush in May, an important Congressional ally charged that the administration might have violated the law by failing to inform Congress of some secret intelligence programs and risked losing Republican support on national security matters.

The letter from Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, did not specify the intelligence activities that he believed had been hidden from Congress.

But Mr. Hoekstra, who was briefed on and supported the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and the Treasury Department's tracking of international banking transactions, clearly was referring to programs that have not been publicly revealed.<snip>

"I have learned of some alleged intelligence community activities about which our committee has not been briefed," Mr. Hoesktra wrote. "If these allegations are true, they may represent a breach of responsibility by the administration, a violation of the law, and, just as importantly, a direct affront to me and the members of this committee who have so ardently supported efforts to collect information on our enemies."

He added: "The U.S. Congress simply should not have to play Twenty Questions to get the information that it deserves under our Constitution."<snip>

[DemReadingDU]

1. Larry Johnson: House Intel Chief Misses the Boat

Today's news from Eric Lichtblau and Scott Shane that the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Peter Hoekstra, sent a nasty gram to the White House complaining of being kept in the dark on intelligence matters is significant, but misleading. It is significant because Hoekstra is staunch defender of the Bush Administration and yet is now willing to insist that his committee must be briefed on intel operations. So far, so good. What the reporters missed is the underlying message in Hoekstra's letter--that the Bush Administration is being too soft on the intel community, particularly the CIA, and that the CIA is a rogue political actor.

... What caught my eye is Hoekstra's outrage over news that Steven Kappes, the former Director of Operations at the CIA who resigned because of a dispute with Porter Goss, was coming back to the Agency as the Deputy Director. Once you understand how extreme and venomous Hoekstra's world view toward the CIA is, we can begin to understand why many intelligence officers, regardless of political persuasion, have lost confidence in Congressional oversight of the intelligence community.

For those not familiar with the details on the initial Kappes flap, here's the rundown.


http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/07/house_intel_chi.html