Well, they can’t very well let us in on the secret stuff and still keep it secret from our enemies, can they? Think about it. That’s the frustrating thing – it’s always such a plausible excuse, because sometimes it’s not an excuse at all. How many American civilians knew the German transmission codes had been broken, until well after WWII? And why should they have been allowed to know? It would have given the whole game away.
So… All of you who thought releasing Valerie Plame’s name was this huge blow to U.S. intelligence have no problem with releasing the entire, classified NIE to a whole bunch of people who are almost certain to leak it to the public?
I’m smelling a major double-standard here.
C’mon, luci. You know that if any secrets get revealed, whatever they are, it will only embolden the terrorists! As Johns Stewart himself pointed out on the Daily Show, those terrorists are just so damn emboldenable!!! There’s nothing we can do or say that won’t embolden them! So we have to do or say nothing! Or not do or say nothing! Or something.
Don’t you mean “a whole bunch of people sworn to uphold the Constitution and defend the US from enemies domestic and foreign”?
And couldn’t revealing SOME of the stuff from the NIE be considered “defending the US from enemies domestic”? (I.e., the Bush Administration, which I definitely consider an enemy of the US, even if they themselves do not understand that they are.)
I believe he does. Seems to me that the house intelligence committee must have a pretty good reason to vote unanimously to release the NIE to their lesser brethren. Real bipartisan concensus like this doesn’t come often in Washington.
I do. And that doesn’t matter. They’re also the people that slip earmarks into unrelated bills, routinely get hauled up on ethics charges, and leak like a sieve whenever it suits their purposes. And I’m not blaming Republicans or Democrats - they’ll all do it.
The house of Representatives has some real wingnuts in it on both sides. There’s a reason why intelligence has generally been handled by a small committee rather than the entire house.
I have to agree that a unanimous decision by the intelligence committee to release this has to be considered a mitigating factor. However, looking at the list of members, I don’t see anyone really impressive. And the new chairman is the guy who thought that al-Qaida was a Shiite organization, and who wasn’t exactly clear on what Hezbollah was. So forgive me if I don’t have a lot of faith in the House Intelligence Committee.
That’s the oath soldiers take. I don’t think that language is in the oath Congresscritters take.
Not quite the same language, but close enough.
The oath is the same for all federal officeholders.
And you still do not? Why, pray tell? You might also explain on what basis you now are so urgently sure that Iran is a threat, and to whom, so urgent that you’re ready to demand that others risk their deaths for it. I don’t expect it of you, but still, you might try.
Washington is a political town. Leaks are essentially always about politics. If this NIE has been as politically manipulated for the purpose of fooling people like you as the Iraq intelligence was, that’s a good thing. Leaks about legitimate intelligence-gathering methods would have no purpose.
The members of the House are our chosen representatives, under oath. You have no basis, in either fact or standing, to blanket-slander them all the way you have here.
There’s “something in the air” again, huh? 
No, then the declassified version would have said we’re winning.
I agree with Luc on this. It’s bullshit through and through. Posturing. Grand standing. Lots of hot air about nothing. And Congress cannot win no matter what happens.
This is a pretty newsworthy topic, or am I missing something?
I’m taking this to mean that any member could have read this anyway if they had requested permission, right?
I’m not sure why people are having a problem with this if that’s the case.
Alternatively, it means that the only classified information discovered by the security committee in the report was stuff hiding the culpability of the Administration for various egregious errors. The Pentagon Papers did not tell the North Vietnamese or Soviets anything they did not already know–they simply let the electorate know what the Adminstration had hidden from their constituents.
That’s a possibility. As I said earlier, the fact that the House Intelligence Committee was unanimous in agreeing to release this to the full house has to be given some consideration here.
Here’s what I predict: Each Democrat will receive a unique version of the NIE, each with a different, apparently juicy revelation about the incompetence of the Bush policy in Iraq. Then the Justice Department will see which false information is leaked, and they will know who the leaker is, and indict him for treason, to be shot at dawn after a perfunctory appearance before a military tribunal. National security is too important to be left to Congress.
From the NIE report: “…VP Cheney suggested that one of POTUS’s daughters be sacrificed to his Dark Lord in order to ensure victory in Iraq…”
Representative Mossback: " I note with dismay references in the NIE to Satanic rituals…"
White House: “The President regrets that Representative Mossback has chosen to undermine our nation’s security by revealing classified and highly sensitive information concerning intelligence gathering methods and procedures…”
Not automatically; the Intelligence Committee would have had to vote on each request.