Ally Told Bush
Project Secrecy Might Be Illegal
By ERIC LICHTBLAU and
SCOTT SHANE, NYTimes on the Web, July 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, July 8 — In a
sharply worded letter to President Bush 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 Hoekstra of Michigan, the Republican
chairman 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 surveillance program and the Treasury Department's tracking of
international banking transactions, clearly was referring to programs that have
not been publicly revealed.
Recently, after the harsh criticism from Mr. Hoekstra, intelligence officials
have appeared at two closed committee briefings to answer questions from the
chairman and other members. The briefings appear to have eased but not
erased the concerns of Mr. Hoekstra and other lawmakers about whether the
administration is sharing information on all of its intelligence operations.
A copy of the four-page letter dated May 18, which has not been previously
disclosed, was obtained by The New York Times.
"I have learned of some alleged intelligence community activities about which
our committee has not been briefed," Mr. Hoesktra wrote. "If these
allegations are true, they 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."
Frederick Jones, a White House spokesman, declined to comment on the concerns
raised by Mr. Hoekstra but said that "we will continue to work closely with the
chairman and other Congressional leaders on important national security issues."
A spokesman for Mr. Hoekstra, Jamal D. Ware, said he could not discuss the
activities allegedly withheld from Congress. But he said that Mr. Hoekstra
remained adamant that no intelligence programs could be hidden from oversight
committees.
"Chairman Hoekstra has raised these issues with the administration to ensure
that the Intelligence Committee is able to conduct its job of oversight," Mr.
Ware said. "Intelligence officials have committed to being forthcoming
with Congress, and Chairman Hoekstra is going to hold them to their word."
Mr. Hoekstra's blunt letter is evidence of a rift between the White House and
House Republican leaders over the administration's perceived indifference to
Congressional oversight and input on intelligence matters. Mr. Hoekstra
wrote that he had shared his complaints with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert,
Republican of Illinois, and that the speaker "concurs with my concerns."
A spokesman for Mr. Hastert declined to comment.
The letter appears to have resulted at least in part from the White House's
decision, made early in May, to name Gen. Michael V. Hayden to lead the Central
Intelligence Agency, with Stephen R. Kappes as his deputy. The letter was
sent the day of General Hayden's confirmation hearing before the Senate
Intelligence Committee.
Mr. Hoekstra (pronounced HOOK-stra) complained publicly about the choices when
they were announced, but his private letter to Mr. Bush was much harsher.
He warned that the choice of Mr. Kappes, who he said was part of a group at the
C.I.A. that "intentionally undermined the administration," sends "a clear signal
that the days of collaborative reform between the White House and this committee
may be over."
Mr. Hoekstra also expressed concern about the intelligence reorganization under
John D. Negroponte, the first director of national intelligence, who he said was
creating "a large, bureaucratic and hierarchical structure that will be less
flexible and agile than our adversaries."
Mr. Hoekstra's views on oversight appear to be shared by some other Intelligence
Committee members.
"I think the executive branch has been insufficiently forthcoming on a number of
important programs," Representative Heather A. Wilson, Republican of New Mexico,
said in an interview. She would not discuss any programs on which the
committee had not been briefed, but she said that in the Bush administration,
"there's a presumption that if they don't tell anybody, a problem may get better
or it will solve itself."
Ms. Wilson said she shared "deep concerns" about the pace and direction of
intelligence reforms overseen by Mr. Negroponte's office. "We have some
troubled programs," she said.
American intelligence agencies routinely conduct many secret programs, but under
the National Security Act, the agencies are required to keep the Congressional
intelligence committees "fully and currently informed of all intelligence
activities." Even in the case of especially sensitive covert actions, the
law requires briefings for at least the leaders from both parties of the
committees and the House and Senate.
As the administration has asserted broad presidential authority to fight
terrorism, concerns about Congressional oversight and checks and balances
between the branches of government have become increasingly heated.
Democrats complained that the administration's failure to brief the full
Intelligence Committees on the N.S.A. warrantless eavesdropping, which focuses
on the international communications of Americans and others inside the United
States, was a violation of the National Security law. Some members of
Congress said they had been briefed on the Treasury Department's bank monitoring
program, which examines international money transfers through a Brussels-based
consortium, only after The New York Times began making inquiries in recent
months.
But the assertion that other intelligence activities had been hidden from
Congress is particularly surprising coming from Mr. Hoekstra, who defended the
administration's limited briefings on the N.S.A. program against Democratic
criticism.
An official familiar with recent exchanges between the intelligence agencies and
the House committee said Friday that General Hayden had twice briefed the full
committee and had addressed Mr. Hoekstra's questions about the intelligence
activities referred to in the letter. The C.I.A. director promised "a free
flow of information," and Mr. Hoekstra, who initially objected to placing a
military officer in charge of the C.I.A., said he would work closely with the
agency's new leadership.
The official, who spoke of the briefings only when granted anonymity because
they were classified, declined to say anything about what the activities were or
which agencies they involved.
Officials with both Mr. Negroponte's office and the C.I.A. declined to comment
specifically on Mr. Hoekstra's letter. But Carl Kropf, a spokesman for Mr.
Negroponte, said that over the past year his office had "engaged in hundreds of
briefings, meetings and discussions with Congressional committees."
He added, "We value this dialogue with Congress, and we will continue to provide
the committee with the information they need to fulfill their responsibilities."
Jennifer Millerwise Dyck, a spokeswoman for General Hayden, said that "the
director believes in the important oversight role Congress plays, and he will
continue regular and transparent interactions with members."
Since his appointment as committee chairman in August 2004, Mr. Hoekstra has
been a critical ally of the White House on intelligence matters. He has
supported the administration's most controversial policies, including its
treatment of terrorist suspects, and he has balked at Democratic demands for an
investigation of pre-war intelligence on Iraq. He has defended the
legality and necessity of the N.S.A. program and the bank monitoring.
Mr. Hoekstra has been one of the strongest advocates in Congress for a crackdown
on leaks of classified information to the media, a cause championed by both Mr.
Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
But in recent months, Mr. Hoekstra has begun to express some disaffection.
In March, he joined the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee,
Representative Jane Harman of California, in a public critique of Mr.
Negroponte's performance. He criticized intelligence officials for
initially resisting his demand that thousands of captured Iraqi documents be
posted on the Web. Like other House Republicans, he bristled when Porter
J. Goss, a former House colleague, was forced out as C.I.A. director in early
May.
Most recently, Mr. Hoekstra strongly criticized a news briefing arranged by Mr.
Negroponte's office on an Army report that 500 pre-Gulf War chemical shells had
been found scattered around Iraq. On June 29, Mr. Hoekstra, who had said
the finding established that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,
made public an angry letter to Mr. Negroponte calling the briefing "inaccurate,
incomplete and occasionally misleading" and asserting that "attempts were made
to downplay the significance of relevant facts."
A spokesman for Mr. Negroponte's office said he had not yet replied to the
complaint.
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