National Review: No Dice on Tice

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A spokesman for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence just confirmed to me that Russ Tice was not the source who tipped Chairman Peter Hoekstra to previously undisclosed intelligence programs (I speculated about Tice's involvement in this post). The spokesman writes:

Chairman Hoekstra's source is not someone who has revealed their name publicly or who would promote themselves as such. There will be much idle speculation on this topic, but the facts are the Intelligence Community has come forward with the requested information, and the Chairman is satisfied with their commitment to be forthcoming with the committee.

This still leaves an important question unanswered: Why did intel officials fail to brief the intel committees on these programs? Was it a good-faith difference of opinion over what constitutes a "major program"? Or was the administration deliberately trying to hide something from Congress? The latter seems unlikely. Hoekstra is a close congressional ally who has supported all of the president's other intelligence-gathering initiatives, and once he complained he was brought into the loop to his satisfaction. My guess is this was an oversight that intel officials corrected once Hoekstra brought it to their attention.

http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTdiYTU0Yjk1OWJmODhkN2M3MjJhODVhMzAzMWU2MDg=

Tice May Not Be Hoekstra's Whistleblower

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001092.php