Yesterday, the NYT reported that [tag]House Intelligence Committee[/tag] Chairman [tag]Peter Hoekstra[/tag] (R-Mich.), who hasn’t exactly been assertive — or even awake — when it comes to congressional oversight of the Bush White House, is suddenly a little concerned about the Bush gang keeping lawmakers in the dark.
In a sharply worded letter to [tag]President[/tag] [tag]Bush[/tag] in May, an important Congressional ally charged that the administration might have violated the law by failing to inform Congress of some secret intelligence programs and risked losing Republican support on national security matters.
The letter from Representative Peter [tag]Hoekstra[/tag] of Michigan, the Republican [tag]chairman[/tag] of the House Intelligence Committee, did not specify the intelligence activities that he believed had been hidden from Congress.
But Mr. Hoekstra, who was briefed on and supported the National Security Agency’s domestic [tag]surveillance[/tag] program and the Treasury Department’s tracking of international banking transactions, clearly was referring to [tag]programs[/tag] that have not been publicly revealed. (emphasis added)
Given what has been publicly revealed, Hoekstra seems to be agitated about fairly serious surveillance that’s still being hidden from the electorate, and as it turns out, members of Congress.
It’s worth noting that Hoekstra didn’t exactly send out a press release on this. On May 18, the House Intelligence Committee chairman wrote a strongly-worded letter to the president, suggesting the White House’s secrecy “may represent a breach of responsibility by the administration, a violation of the law, and, just as importantly, a direct affront to me and the members of this committee who have so ardently supported efforts to collect information on our enemies.” He added, “The U.S. Congress simply should not have to play Twenty Questions to get the information that it deserves under our Constitution.”
Hoekstra’s missive raises a series of interesting questions.
* How serious is the still-undisclosed surveillance program that Hoekstra referred to?
* Why would Hoekstra suddenly express concerns about the administration’s disclosure responsibilities, after years of complete disinterest?
* Did Hoekstra leak his own letter to the New York Times, six weeks after it was sent to the White House? If so, why?
* Is Hoekstra distancing himself from a story he suspects might break soon?
For what it’s worth, the Bush gang seems to have taken Hoekstra’s concerns seriously — if the partisan chairman of the House Intelligence Community is unhappy, it’s in the White House’s interest to make him happy — and briefed him and his top colleagues on the still-secret NSA program.
The Bush administration briefed top lawmakers on a significant intelligence program only after a key Republican committee chairman angrily complained of being left in the dark, the chairman said yesterday.
House intelligence committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) would not describe the program, but he said it was significant enough that the administration should have briefed him and others voluntarily, without waiting for them to learn of it through government tipsters.
“There was at least one major — what I consider significant — activity that we had not been briefed on that we have now been [tag]briefed[/tag] on,” Hoekstra said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Some people within the intelligence community brought to my attention some programs that they believed we had not been briefed on. They were right.”
Stay tuned.