Sunday, November 26, 2006
Senate Democrats Demand Classified Data
Senate Democrats are heating up their longstanding demands for documents related to the detention of terrorism suspects, abuse of detainees and other matters involving government secrecy.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., who will chair the Senate Judiciary Committee starting in January has asked the Justice Department to release two newly acknowledged documents, which set U.S. policy on how terrorism suspects are detained and interrogated. The existence of the documents has been confirmed by the CIA.
The first document sought is a directive President Bush signed giving the CIA authority to establish detention facilities outside the United States. It also outlines interrogation methods that may be used against detainees. The second is a 2002 memo from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to the CIA’s general counsel regarding interrogation methods that the CIA was empowered to employ against detained al-Qaida leaders.
"The American people deserve to have detailed and accurate information about the role of the Bush administration in developing the interrogation policies and practices that have engendered such deep criticism and concern at home and around the world,” Leahy wrote Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, demanding that Gonzales produce any revisions and analyses of those and other memos. In addition he demanded any CIA documents that interpret the scope of interrogation practices permitted and prohibited by the Detainee Treatment Act or the Military Commissions Act.
"I expect real answers, or we’ll have testimony under oath until we get them,” Sen. Leahy told the New York Times. "We’re entitled to know these answers, and in many instances we don’t get them because people are hiding their mistakes. And that’s no excuse.”
His aides have cited more than 65 requests he has made to the Justice Department or other agencies in recent years that have been rejected or permitted to languish without reply.
Leahy expressed hope for greater cooperation from the Bush administration, which he described to the Times as having been "obsessively secretive.”
According to the Times, Leahy and his fellow Democrats have renewed their longstanding requests for information about some of the administration’s most hidden and fiercely debated operations. In addition, other such requests by committee members deal with subjects like voter fraud, immigration and background inquiries on Supreme Court nominees.
Noting that Democrats will soon control the Congress, the Times predicted that it will be harder for executive branch agencies to sidestep requests for documents. Behind each request, the Times reported, will be the possibility of Democrats’ voting to issue subpoenas that would compel documents or testimony, although Senate aides said they hoped to avoid conflict.
In the face of the renewed demands, there are few signs that the Bush administration is ready to be more responsive. Even though the President has promised to work with Democrats, there appears to be little change in the reluctance of the Justice Department’s officials to start opening its files to Leahy’s committee.
"The department will continue to work closely with the Congress as they exercise their oversight functions, and we will appropriately respond to all requests in the spirit of that longstanding relationship,” department spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse told the Times. "When making those decisions, it is vital to protect national security information, particularly when they relate to sensitive intelligence programs that are the subject of oversight by the Intelligence Committees. We also must give appropriate weight to the confidentiality of internal executive branch deliberations.”
Senate Democrats are heating up their longstanding demands for documents related to the detention of terrorism suspects, abuse of detainees and other matters involving government secrecy.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., who will chair the Senate Judiciary Committee starting in January has asked the Justice Department to release two newly acknowledged documents, which set U.S. policy on how terrorism suspects are detained and interrogated. The existence of the documents has been confirmed by the CIA.
The first document sought is a directive President Bush signed giving the CIA authority to establish detention facilities outside the United States. It also outlines interrogation methods that may be used against detainees. The second is a 2002 memo from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to the CIA’s general counsel regarding interrogation methods that the CIA was empowered to employ against detained al-Qaida leaders.
"The American people deserve to have detailed and accurate information about the role of the Bush administration in developing the interrogation policies and practices that have engendered such deep criticism and concern at home and around the world,” Leahy wrote Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, demanding that Gonzales produce any revisions and analyses of those and other memos. In addition he demanded any CIA documents that interpret the scope of interrogation practices permitted and prohibited by the Detainee Treatment Act or the Military Commissions Act.
"I expect real answers, or we’ll have testimony under oath until we get them,” Sen. Leahy told the New York Times. "We’re entitled to know these answers, and in many instances we don’t get them because people are hiding their mistakes. And that’s no excuse.”
His aides have cited more than 65 requests he has made to the Justice Department or other agencies in recent years that have been rejected or permitted to languish without reply.
Leahy expressed hope for greater cooperation from the Bush administration, which he described to the Times as having been "obsessively secretive.”
According to the Times, Leahy and his fellow Democrats have renewed their longstanding requests for information about some of the administration’s most hidden and fiercely debated operations. In addition, other such requests by committee members deal with subjects like voter fraud, immigration and background inquiries on Supreme Court nominees.
Noting that Democrats will soon control the Congress, the Times predicted that it will be harder for executive branch agencies to sidestep requests for documents. Behind each request, the Times reported, will be the possibility of Democrats’ voting to issue subpoenas that would compel documents or testimony, although Senate aides said they hoped to avoid conflict.
In the face of the renewed demands, there are few signs that the Bush administration is ready to be more responsive. Even though the President has promised to work with Democrats, there appears to be little change in the reluctance of the Justice Department’s officials to start opening its files to Leahy’s committee.
"The department will continue to work closely with the Congress as they exercise their oversight functions, and we will appropriately respond to all requests in the spirit of that longstanding relationship,” department spokesman, Brian Roehrkasse told the Times. "When making those decisions, it is vital to protect national security information, particularly when they relate to sensitive intelligence programs that are the subject of oversight by the Intelligence Committees. We also must give appropriate weight to the confidentiality of internal executive branch deliberations.”
