Congress calls for leak investigation: Presidential reprimand moves representatives to action

MSNBC ^ | 20 July 2002 | Andrea Mitchell, Alex Johnson

[PhiKapMom]

Presidential reprimand moves representatives to action

NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES

WASHINGTON, June 20 — The chairmen of a joint congressional committee investigating pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures said Thursday they have asked the attorney general to investigate possible leaks of classified information by the panel.

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“WE WILL cooperate with the FBI in any way possible” while the Justice Department and the FBI investigate if or how such leaks occurred, said Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Vice President Dick Cheney had complained to the two chairmen earlier Thursday about leaks that he believed led to the disclosure of the National Security Agency’s Sept. 10 intercepts of at least two messages in Arabic. The messages suggested a major event was to take place the next day. At President Bush’s direction, Cheney called Goss and Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, “to express the president’s concerns about this inappropriate disclosure,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. Fleischer called the disclosure of the language of the NSA intercepts “alarmingly specific.” Although there had previously been reports of missed signals, Wednesday’s leak specifically quoted from intercepts, something that never is done, NBC News reported. The intercepts had been discussed with the committee over the last two weeks and particularly in testimony on Tuesday. Advertisement

Goss said the Justice Department investigation was necessary because committee members are entrusted to keep classified information secret, and undercover operatives or U.S. officials could be endangered by such leaks. “We’ve got people out in harm’s way who are conducting a lot of serious business,” Goss said.

ARABIC MESSAGES U.S. intelligence intercepted two Arabic messages the day before the Sept. 11 attacks that indicated an event was planned the following day, but the communications were not translated until Sept. 12, government sources said Wednesday. The NSA, which eavesdrops on communications worldwide, intercepted messages that said “tomorrow is zero hour” and “the match begins tomorrow,” sources said on condition of anonymity. Fleischer called the information that the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency are providing to the committee “extraordinarily sensitive.” “The selective, inappropriate leaking of snippets of information risks undermining national security, and it risks undermining the promises made to protect this sensitive information,” the White House spokesman said.

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“We do not know who did it,” Fleischer said, but Cheney’s phone call seemed to point a finger at the committees. Concern about possible leaks has been a key reason the White House has opposed setting up an independent commission to investigate the attacks. The commission has been sought by some lawmakers and relatives of the victims. Bush has said the intelligence panels were better-positioned to avoid leaks. They “understand the obligations of upholding our secrets and our sources and methods of collecting intelligence,” he said last month.

‘NOT A CREDIBLE WARNING’ On Wednesday intelligence officials strongly disputed reports that the intercepted conversations were a credible warning of the next day’s terrorist attacks. NBC News learned that the intercepted comments, which were discussed at a closed hearing of the House and Senate intelligence committees, were not from any known members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, which U.S. officials blame for the attacks. And they adamantly told NBC News that any attempt to connect the conversations to the Sept. 11 attacks indicated a significant misunderstanding of signals intelligence. NBC News has learned that the conversations did not involve members of al-Qaida and that analysts believe they were merely “background chatter” like most NSA-intercepted material, which comes in at the rate or 2 million or more signals every hour.

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Intelligence officials maintained Wednesday that the words “the match begins tomorrow,” plucked from the data stream without context, were essentially meaningless because analysts could not know what the larger conversation was even about. A U.S. intelligence official, while declining to comment on the NSA intercepts, said a piece of raw intelligence that contains only a date provides little useful information. The official said that both before and after Sept. 11, U.S. intelligence frequently has received threat information that consists of only a date and a vague notion something will happen — and then, nothing happens. They suggested that the conversations had been leaked by opponents of the security agencies under investigation on Capitol Hill, among them the CIA and the FBI, which have been sharply criticized for failing to coordinate their efforts before Sept. 11. “Hill critics of the agencies have been peddling this for weeks,” one of the officials told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC.com’s Alex Johnson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[EllaMinnow]

I saw this broadcast on Cnn yesterday afternoon around 3, and repeated several times between 4 and 5.

[for-q-clinton]

Ah, good old Hatch. Since, it was first leaked to fox, I bet it was him. However, there may be multiple leakers. A RAT may have heard the news on fox and thought the damage was already done, might as well score some points with CNN.

[PhiKapMom]

Want to be in that line for a slap right behind you. I figured this was a classified leak when I first heard about it and wondered how long it would take to be just that -- didn't take long. When I think of all you had to do when handling Top Secret -- and then to have these elected officials treat it so nonchalantly makes me me ill. It is like they don't care about this Country and the men and women who lay their lives on the line for the United States day in and day out.

Think that DoD and CIA should never brief classified information to Congress again until every member of the Intelligence and Armed Services Committee sign the same nondisclosure agreement that the rest of us that handled classified information had to sign.

[PhiKapMom]

Hatch is probably the last person to look at -- he got in a ton of trouble along with Feinstein for leaking before and he vowed to never do it again.

Am hearing that CNN had it first for what is worth!

[PhiKapMom]

I have been searching all over and all Government employees that handle classified have to sign an oath and a nondisclosure agreement and be debriefed and sign another form when they leave Civil Service, military, Foreign Service, etc. saying that they will not disclose any classified information. But so far I can find nothing about Congress.

Something is wrong about that!

[PhiKapMom]

Found it! This is the from the Rules that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Operates Under -- Still need the House:

9.6. No member of the Committee or of the Committee staff
shall disclose, in whole or in part or by way of summary, to
any person not a member of the Committee or the Committee
staff for any purpose or in connection with any proceeding,
judicial or otherwise, any testimony given before the
committee in executive session including the name of any
witness who appeared or was called to appear before the
Committee in executive session, or the contents of any papers
or materials or other information received by the Committee
except as authorized herein, or otherwise as authorized by
the Committee in accordance with Section 8 of S. Res. 400 of
the 94th Congress and the provisions of these rules, or in
the event of the termination of the Committee, in such a
manner as may be determined by the Senate. For purposes of
this paragraph, members and staff of the Committee may
disclose classified information in the possession of the
Committee only to persons with appropriate security
clearances who have a need to know such information for an
official governmental purpose related to the work of the
Committee. Information discussed in executive sessions of
the Committee and information contained in papers and
materials which are not classified but which are
controlled by the Committee may be disclosed only to
persons outside the Committee who have a need to know such
information for an official governmental purpose related
to the work of the Committee and only if such disclosure
has been authorized by the Chairman and Vice Chairman of
the Committee, or by the Staff Director and Minority Staff
Director, acting on their behalf. Failure to abide by this
provision shall constitute grounds for referral to the
Select Committee on Ethics pursuant to Section 8 of S.
Res. 400.

http://www.access.gpo.gov/cong ress/senate/srules23.txt

This is the Senate Rules for the 107th Congress for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

[Fracas]

Well, I feel so much better after reading that. Referred to the (gulp) ETHICS Committee. What a joke. That's a true deterrent isn't it?

[kayak]

Darn! They just refer them to an Ethics Committee composed of fellow congresscritters who don't even have the word in their vocabularies? Where's the part about hangin'?

[FlyVet]

Think that DoD and CIA should never brief classified information to Congress again until every member of the Intelligence and Armed Services Committee sign the same nondisclosure agreement that the rest of us that handled classified information had to sign.

Yes, and they ought to be able to pass the same background check that DoD personnel must pass before being exposed to classified. I'm sure that would eliminate minimum 75% of them. I can't even believe people like Carl Levin are on the Armed Services Committee. An unabashed Communist, as far as I'm concerned. Not to mention the sick pukes who vote for him time after time.

[PhiKapMom]

Isn't this an insult! I thought the same thing about the Ethics Committee. For Government employees you can go to jail. Should be the same for Congress!

[ClancyJ]

I also feel the media should be called in to advise how they got the information. They easily can give their sources especially since those sources are endangering national security. If they won't - the public should be advised they won't.

[PhiKapMom]

Am with you 100% -- don't think they could pass that Background Investigation either and then they would have to do a 5-year update to keep a Top Secret. I think it is time for the laws to be changed to make every member of Congress that handles classified material go through the same investigation that DoD personnel have to -- bet some of these people would be off the committees!

Carl Levin on Armed Services disgusts me to no end! I hate to think of him having access to anything classified from DoD!

Another thing I found out in my research -- the Rules of this Joint Committee say nothing about breach of security by leaking classified information -- it details only what they are going to look at. For Intelligence type folks, seems they left a big hole in the Rules of the Joint Committee!

[PhiKapMom]

Great idea! I had the distinct feeling watching Andrea Mitchell that she knows who did the leaking and who it was first leaked to. That is just a hunch! The press should be held accountable -- I say kick CNN out of the WH for being the first ones it seems to break the story and give specifics.

[kayak]

I guess they would come up with that garbage about "not overturning the will of the people." ...... GAG! ... PUKE!

I know that the will of this people [moi!] is to expose and appropriately punish those whose actions would bring harm to our nation!

[PhiKapMom]

I know that the will of this people [moi!] is to expose and appropriately punish those whose actions would bring harm to our nation!

Same here! Think I am going to get some contact information so we can let these Senate and House Intelligence Committee Chairmen know we want the person punished to the full extent of the law!

[Ben Hecks]

Thanks for the post. This may get interesting.

FWIW, here's my odds: Edwards 6-5, Mikulski 7-2, Levin 3-1, Feinstein 5-2, Durbin/Bayh/Rockefeller/Wyden/Graham 20-1.

[PhiKapMom]

Think those are good odds! Notice that Edwards seems to be leading the pack from all of us!

[folklore]

Scratch Rocky. He is so dumb, he can't take a leak on his own!

[B4Ranch]

Looks like somebody dropped their Congressional manual.

[PhiKapMom]

LOL!!

I watched Frank Gaffney, President, The Center for Security Policy, this morning on Fox and Friends. He stated that the leak was to a newspaper and that members of this Committee and their staffs will be taking FBI lie detector tests if they had access to this information.