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."
What you call the majority view when you want it to sound like there's no real dissent.
Are you out of your gourd?
reaping the whirlwind! Will a real conservative Candidate please stand up!
I bet this cuts down on CIA agent applications. Democrats never liked the CIA anyway, so why not make all the secret agent names public.
What a bunch of idiots - as though we hope the House committee had any brains they dump this data on the bulk of the house, and these idiots have no clue what they are looking at.
As far as your statement - exactly.
Just ponder the logistics of this for a moment: there is no conceivable way all or even most of the 435 members will be able to spend any serious time in that room studying this material between now and Tuesday. For one thing, not more than a few of them can do it at one time, plus it is Friday and many of them are already leaving town for the weekend... not to mention it would require some HOURS for each member to really study this kind of detailed 95 pp. document.
Thus, doing this now has little or NOTHING to do with making sure all 435 members are fully informed on the issue.
It is about allowing SOME members, i.e., left-wing loons, to cherry-pick whatever they want to find, to inflame and distort the House "debate"......
If they had been serious about improving members' understanding of the issue they would have done this weeks ago. It is all about posturing and propaganda by the loony left. I just hope none of the bozos will give away sensitive "sources and methods" whether by accident or ON PURPOSE.
The trend is clear.
America is headed for another civil war.
I have the right to life, and my right to life is being threatened by Democrats who wish to deny the threat for political benefit.
I also have the right to defend myself against all enemies.
I will not exercise this right by myself.
I do not believe we are at, or anywhere the point where enough people realize what is being done to us, but that point is approaching, not receeding.
When that point arrives, I will be reday for it.
Until then, I will do nothing besides Constitutionally legal preparations.
It's coming.
When it arrives, you will either be ready, or you won't.
This is what happens when you put the party that is hellbent on giving aid and comfort to the sworn enemy of freedom into power.
God bless and protect our troops and US!
>Dear Lord ... Congress is going to get us all killed<
As well as any of the previously protected sources mentioned in the report.
But as long as we can see if Bush lied we can consider that collateral damage.
435 members. There are leaks when classified information is seen by only a handful. My gosh. The NYT must be booting up the word processors as we speak.
Not only are methods of gathering intelligence going to be known to our enemies but the names of friendlies that have provided information at great risk to themselves. Why would anyone in their right mind want to cooperate with us in the future?
You couldn't be more wrong. For the past 6 years, the CIA has been a Democrat fifth column in the Administration. They have consistently conspired with Congressional Democrats against Bush, have consistently leaked damaging and embarrassing information to the press and the Congress -- and this has stayed true even after Porter Goss's massive purges of disloyal employees. There's a reason Valerie Plame worked for them.
And they all get to talk?! Oh my God! Think of all the green house gases that will produce!!
What was Churchill's famous quote about democracies and national security secrets?
Now, guys like Baghdad Jim McDermott and his ilk get to read about some of our country's deepest secrets. Would anybody in FReerepublic trust these guys NOT to leak?
There are ^%&*^%$#ed good reasons why certain intelligence is classified.
--Dear Lord ... Congress is going to get us all killed---
Lots of days that thought runs through my head and the thought that the news media is going to help them do it.
Might as well print it on page one of the New York Times.
Oh, sure. These rules will be adhered to by the radicals in the House as successfully as Sandy Burglar adhered to the rules when he was in the National Archives, stuffing his pockets, shorts, socks, undershirt and gloves with CLASSIFIED documents.
We are screwed.
I'm beginning to think it is time to change parties.We need a DIED AND TRUE party for Conservative ideas.
Dear God, help us. Amen
Put some thought into this
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