Posted on 02/09/2007 12:29:41 AM PST by STARWISE
To the surprise of the Bush administration, the House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to allow all 435 House members to see the classified version of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq sent to the White House last week. The report is classified in part because it contains information about sources and methods used in intelligence-gathering.
The document will provide fuel for a House debate, scheduled to begin Tuesday, on a resolution of disapproval of President Bush’s plan to boost U.S. troop strength in Iraq. Remarkably, each House member will be given five minutes to speak. The decision to provide such broad access to the microphones is based on the fact that each member got the chance to speak before the Iraq war began, according to House leadership aides.
In announcing the vote to allow all members access to the classified portion of the NIE, the committee said those examining it “will be required to review the document in the Committee's secure offices in the Capitol and sign a secrecy oath.” The members will not be allowed to leave with notes, congressional sources said.
The White House was not informed or consulted about the decision. Such access for members is rare but not unprecedented. The document had been made available to members of several committees with jurisdiction over the intelligence community, but other lawmakers would have needed to request permission to read it. The committee had received written requests from one Republican and one Democrat, plus some other informal inquires, and decided it would be better to allow blanket access instead of voting on each request, congressional sources said.
The report runs about 90 pages, and the Office of the National Intelligence Director released 3 1/2 pages of “Key Judgments” last week. The report, called “Prospects for Iraq’s Stability: A Challenging Road Ahead,” was approved Jan. 29 by the heads of the government’s 16 intelligence agencies. It paints a generally bleak picture of conditions in Iraq and warns that without successful efforts to rein in insurgent violence and political extremism, the overall security situation “will continue to deteriorate” at current rates for the next 12 to 18 months, the period covered by the report.
The decision raised fears among some Republicans that members not used to dealing with classified information might play fast and loose with what they saw. But Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement: "It is critical that all Members of Congress understand the consensus view of the Intelligence Community on the gravity of the situation in Iraq and the consequences for U.S. troops and our long-term national security interests."
Does anybody remember that on/about 9/12/2001, President Bush announced that Congress would no longer be given access to classified Intelligence?
Caused a major flap at the time, and he had to back away from it, of course -- sadly...
We've come a long way, baby....
guess WE will be reading it in NYT today
Good, now they'll understand
why they must cut all non-essential spending
except for winning the war.
Amen. So much for "INTELLEGENCE", what were they thinking? Amen.
*ping*
Freaking fools!
God help our troops, this will be in the NYT's within 24 hours after it are released.
What about the Muslim sympathisers who will see it and pass the sources and methods to our enemies
Only if you happen to be in country and involved in intelligence gathering methods.
PING
The names of the idiots that voted to release this information? Dems I'm sure.
Let the leaking begin!
"God help our troops..."
I pray for them everyday.
First, all members of Congress should be given reports gathered by the Clinton Administration. They were the ones who first claimed they had evidence to justify invading Iraq and topple Saddam. The evidence was to profound that all the senior Democrat leaders who viewed the reports(Schumer, Kennedy, Biden, Reid, Boxer, Daschel, Kerry, Pelosi, etc.) are on record in supporting an invasion, if Clinton was inclined to do so.
That doesn't sound very useful. Reminds me of the secret negotiations over what "science" to put in the latest global warming report.
All of them dem's and rep's voted to release it.
Dear Lord ... Congress is going to get us all killed
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