GOP Blocks Intel Bill to Keep Daily Intel Briefs Of Bush & Clinton Secret

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as well as information on secret CIA prisons in Europe.

GOP Blocks Action on Senate Intelligence Authorization Bill

By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 23, 200
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122201662.html

{snips}

"The Republican "hold" on the bill blocked what was a planned adoption by unanimous consent. The bill will now wait for Congress to return from its winter recess in late January. "An anonymous Republican placed a hold on the bill and prevented the Senate from working its will," Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday in a statement on the floor. "As a result, the bill can't go forward."

Democrats were informed last week that Republicans would clear the bill if three amendments, two by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and one by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), would be stripped from the consent agreement.

Kerry's amendment would require the director of national intelligence to give the intelligence panels information on secret CIA prisons in several Eastern European democracies and in Asia.

Kennedy's amendments would require the White House to turn over copies of daily intelligence briefs that President Bush and former President Bill Clinton reviewed on Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122201662.html

[ThomWV]

1. What Report Is He Refering To At The End?

Last Paragarph:


"A congressional report made public last week concluded that Bush and his inner circle had access to more intelligence and reviewed more sensitive material than what was shared with Congress."

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2. Report: Bush Had More Prewar Intelligence Than Congress

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121501813.html


Report: Bush Had More Prewar Intelligence Than Congress

By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005; Page A23

A congressional report made public yesterday concluded that President Bush and his inner circle had access to more intelligence and reviewed more sensitive material than what was shared with Congress when it gave Bush the authority to wage war against Iraq.

Democrats said the 14-page report contradicts Bush's contention that lawmakers saw all the evidence before U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, stating that the president and a small number of advisers "have access to a far greater volume of intelligence and to more sensitive intelligence information."

The report does not cite examples of intelligence Bush reviewed that differed from what Congress saw. If such information is available, the report's authors do not have access to it. The Bush administration has routinely denied Congress access to documents, saying it would have a chilling effect on deliberations. The report, however, concludes that the Bush administration has been more restrictive than its predecessors in sharing intelligence with Congress.

The White House disputed both charges, noting that Congress often works directly with U.S. intelligence agencies and is privy to an enormous amount of classified information. "In 2004 alone, intelligence agencies provided over 1,000 personal briefings and more than 4,000 intelligence products to the Congress," an administration official said.

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8. here's the report

TO: Sen. Dianne Feinstein
FROM:
Alfred Cumming
Specialist in Intelligence and National Security
Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Division
SUBJECT: Congress as a Consumer of Intelligence Information

This responds to your request for a discussion of Congress and its role as a consumer of national intelligence, and for a listing and a description of some of the U.S. Intelligence Community's principal intelligence products, including an identification of those which the executive branch routinely shares with Congress, and those which it does not.


http://feinstein.senate.gov/crs-intel.htm

[cosmicdot]

3. "An anonymous Republican placed a hold..."

"An anonymous Republican placed a hold on the bill...", stated Reid

an anonymous Republican???

How exactly is this done in anonymity?

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4. Senator Seeks to Stamp Out Secretive 'Holds'

Senator Seeks to Stamp Out Secretive 'Holds'

By Helen Dewar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 17, 2001; Page A04

The Senate has declared a cease-fire in the latest fight over its time-honored but widely criticized practice of allowing members to block action on legislation or nominations by putting anonymous "holds" on them.

As far as anyone knows, the Senate has not changed its obsession with secretive tactics. But Sen. Paul D. Wellstone (D-Minn.) succeeded Thursday night in passing a bill to expand programs for homeless veterans after Republicans removed holds on his measure in response to retaliatory holds he put on bills they wanted.

He said he was gratified by the action but now wants something done about anonymous holds. "Surely there's got to be a better way to legislate," he said yesterday.

Reformers thought they had cured the problem two years ago when Senate leaders agreed on a policy requiring anyone placing a hold to disclose his or her identity to the bill's sponsor.

But there was no enforcement mechanism, and senators quickly began to wiggle around the requirement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/onpolitics/articles/holds_111701.html

[Old and In the Way]

5. Just another cheap sleazy CYA maneuver by the Syndicate to

protect the Alpha-Monkeys. Obviously, the stench is so strong, no one wants their name associated with this stalling tactic.

[elehhhhna]

6. What if illegal wiretap stuff shows up in Bush's PDB's?

Like reports on Democratic Senators, candidates, etc...
God only knows what's really in those daily briefings.

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7. Democrats to press for Iraq intelligence

Boston Globe
December 14, 2005

"Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said that seeing the briefs is the only way lawmakers can determine whether the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war -- and the best way to ensure that future presidents and Congress are on the same page when it comes to crucial intelligence matters.

''It is essential to get to the bottom of the rush to war in Iraq not only to get the truth, but also because there are other threats on the horizon in Iran, North Korea, and elsewhere," said Kennedy, who is offering an amendment to the intelligence authorization bill that would require Iraq-related daily briefs to be released. ''Americans deserve a White House that lifts the veil of secrecy, so that America can get it right next time."


Senate Democrats want Bush to release the Iraq-related items in the Presidential Daily Briefs from the first two years of his presidency and from the last year of the Clinton administration. Senate aides said the Clinton-era briefs are important because Bush has said that he and President Clinton had seen the same intelligence.

Kennedy's amendment is part of Democrats' effort to turn up the pressure on Bush to open intelligence reports that have so far remained under wraps. Democrats on the House intelligence committee have renewed their calls for a House-led investigation on how the administration used prewar intelligence, though Republican leaders continue to reject it."

http://zzpat.bravehost.com/dec_2005/dems_press_for_iraq_intell.html

Who knows what's in the PDB's? If it's wiretapping, don't expect it to come out, national security 'concerns' and all . . .