White House kept "major program" secret

reuters ^ | July 9, 2006 | Alan Elsner

[DoctorMichael]

.........White House kept "major program" secret......

Good. As it should be.

[bvw]

You are second guessing exactly what drives Mr Hoekstra's requests. Do you know of which program he is worried about? I give him the benefit of his office and duty to it.

[Sam Hill]

"You are second guessing exactly what drives Mr Hoekstra's requests. Do you know of which program he is worried about? I give him the benefit of his office and duty to it."

The only authority Hoekstra has to demand he be kept informed is the act I mentioned, which established his committee and the corresponding one in the Senate.

Before 1980 no such committees existed. And neither George Washington nor any President until 1980 had to report to Congress about his intelligence efforts.

And look at what has happened to our intel abilities since then. No one can deny that Congress has been successful in what in fact was their avowed mission -- to severely hamper our intel powers.

If you think Frank Church and his compadres had the best interests of the US in mind when they forced this through, you are quite naive.

[Southack]

"I think Porter Goss is the one who leaked this to Peter to get Negroponte in hot water. There is a very unhealthy war going on between Hoekstra and Negroponte that is hurting this country."

That's an understandable sentiment considering all of the leaks that are being published, but that's not the case here.

The system worked. You want feedback in the system. You need an outlet for whistle-blowers *other* than the news media.

And that's what happened. The whistle-blower went to Congress instead of to the press.

That's what is supposed to happen.

The issue was investigated, and Congress wrote a letter to the President to clear up any ambiguities.

In the meantime, the Public doesn't know which secret program was investigated...unlike the SWIFT and NSA eavesdropping programs...those two latter "Secret" programs no longer being secret.

Which is to say, pat yourselves on the back; our system worked in this example.

Oh sure, the talking heads and news media will attempt to score cheap points against the Bush Administration over this issue...but they've got nothing. There's no "there" there.

Thus, the news media is left to gnash its teeth. Good riddance.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

What happens when we have a traitorous underground in high places whose only agenda is to bring this president down?

Bush's fault. He decided to play nice and didn't flush upon entering the oval office.

[Southack]

"The law everyone is referring only was enacted in 1980. Somehow this country made it through many crises and wars and years without it -- and without becoming a dictatorship."

Or earlier (1973). I'd hazard that the notification in question has to do with whether or not our guys in places unmentioned are considered in "hostilities" for long enough periods of time to trigger the War Powers Act notification threshold.

Some Jihad-Joe takes a shot at one of our guys in Country C...soon the number of days that an American is in "hostilities" could be viewed as requiring Congressional Notification, or not. Does one shot at our guy by a civilian militiaman mean "hostilities" with another Nation as determined by the War Powers Act?

The keyword in Hoekstra's letter is "may." It "may" have been the law to notify Congress of the operation...depending upon how "hostilities" is/are determined.

When dealing when civilian militias in 3rd world nations, "hostilities" as meant by the War Powers Act can be ambiguous.

[TexKat]

I would be very interested in the exact date that letter was sent and how close it was to the resignation.

The letter is dated 5/18/2006. There is a link to the letter on a thread that was posted yesterday. I printed a copy of the letter off and will try to see if I can find the thread.

[FairOpinion]

And WHY are we -- and all the terrorists of the world -- reading about this in the newspapers, AGAIN?

We better start prosecuting andpunishing those who leak national security info -- even if they are in Congress --, or NOTHING will be secret anymore and our most important secrets could be had for the price of an issue of the NY Times.

[TexKat]

The actual letter is here.

Ally Told Bush Spying Projects Might Be Illegal [programs that have not been publicly revealed....]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1662461/posts

[Unicorn]

BTTT

[Unicorn]

BTTT

[Sam Hill]

No, this isn't about the War Powers notification.

This is about Congressional Oversight of intel. That's why Hoekstra is the one to write it.

[Marine_Uncle]

Good points. The L/MSM are not going to go very far on this one. The system worked. And as you indicated, they will have little info on trying to expose just what program needed some congressional oversight.

[driftless]

"penchance for secrecy"

Ditto. Exactly my thoughts. According to its critics, the Bush admin should blab everything they're doing to the press from the getgo. What a bunch of clowns. Hoekstra should know better. And if he has a complaint, he should not air it in the media.

[Sam Hill]

"The L/MSM are not going to go very far on this one."

Funny how the media didn't quote any of Hoekstra's remarks about the Wilson/Plame affair:

[prairiebreeze]

You may be onto something with the Goss connection.

[conservative blonde]

It just plain stinks. If Hoekstra thinks this is going to get him votes in November, he may find it back fires on him. Why must the GOP launder all there political problems in the public. Haven't they any diplomacy? Hoekstra could have contacted the President in private discussions and not blasted it all over the MSM who are just waiting for another issue to "blame on Bush." GOP leaders are jackasses. I think the GOP has the wrong symbol for the party.

[Marine_Uncle]

Snakes are so elusive by nature.

[FrogMom]

"We asked by code name about some of these programs. We have now been briefed on those programs but I wanted to reinforce to the president and to the executive branch and the intelligence community how important by law is the requirement that they keep the legislative branch informed of what they are doing," Hoekstra said.

And how long before one of your, or someother Congress Critter's, idiot staff leak them to the fracking press?

[Mo1]

I thought Hoekstra was against Kappes' return to the CIA