A key member of Congress has been watching the controversy unfold over the president’s warrantless-search program and has some serious concerns. In fact, appearing on Meet the Press yesterday, the lawmaker suggested crimes have occurred.
“Congress has outlined the laws by which this will happen…. It’s not in their option whether they’re going to abide by this law or not. The process is laid out. If that individual decides to use a process outside of the law or in violation of the law, they do it at their risk.”
The good news is the lawmaker is Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The bad news is Hoekstra wasn’t talking about the president ignoring FISA; he was referring to whistleblowers who exposed the president’s program in the first place.
Without a hint of irony, Hoekstra said officials with insider knowledge have a “responsibility” to follow the whistleblower law as it’s written. It doesn’t matter if they have a good reason; reporters do not have an option to “use a process outside of the law.” If only Hoekstra would apply the same standard to the White House, we’d see some real progress.
In related news, law-enforcement officials are moving swiftly in investigating the leak.
Federal agents have interviewed officials at several of the country’s law enforcement and national security agencies in a rapidly expanding criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding a New York Times article published in December that disclosed the existence of a highly classified domestic eavesdropping program, according to government officials.
The investigation, which appears to cover the case from 2004, when the newspaper began reporting the story, is being closely coordinated with criminal prosecutors at the Justice Department, the officials said. People who have been interviewed and others in the government who have been briefed on the interviews said the investigation seemed to lay the groundwork for a grand jury inquiry that could lead to criminal charges.
The inquiry is progressing as a debate about the eavesdropping rages in Congress and elsewhere. President Bush has condemned the leak as a “shameful act.” Others, like Porter J. Goss, the C.I.A. director, have expressed the hope that reporters will be summoned before a grand jury and asked to reveal the identities of those who provided them classified information.
Mr. Goss, speaking at a Senate intelligence committee hearing on Feb. 2, said: “It is my aim and it is my hope that we will witness a grand jury investigation with reporters present being asked to reveal who is leaking this information. I believe the safety of this nation and the people of this country deserve nothing less.”
When it comes to leaks, the administration can move pretty quickly with leak investigations, can’t it? Not into Cheney authorizing Scooter Libby to share classified information with reporters, of course, or with the Valerie Plame leak, but when the Bush gang doesn’t like the leak, they really leap into action.