Democratic House Intelligence - The New Oxymoron

A Democratic staffer has had his access to classified info restricted while an investigation unfolds into whether he was a source of the leak of parts of a National Intelligence Estimate to the NY Times last September.

From the Times itself:

The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Peter Hoekstra, has banned a Democratic staff member from access to classified information because he suspects the staff member may have leaked a national intelligence estimate to The New York Times last month, a committee spokesman said Thursday night.

The spokesman, Jamal D. Ware, said the staff member had requested a copy of the intelligence estimate, on terrorism, from the office of the director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte.

He received the document on Sept. 21, two days before the Sept. 23 article in The Times.

Mr. Ware said that while there was no evidence that the staff member had leaked the document, the “coincidence” of timing led to the suspension.

He said that while an internal investigation was conducted the staff member, whom he declined to name, was not permitted to enter the committee’s secure space or review classified documents.

Democrats on the committe are outraged, as well they might be:

Democrats say the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee had no grounds to suspend a staff member who's come under scrutiny for the leak of a secret intelligence assessment.

...The Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, Jane Harman of California, wrote to Hoekstra that she was "appalled" by his action, which was "without basis." She has demanded that Hoekstra "immediately reinstate the staffer's access to classified information."

Yeah, yeah, Jane Harman - she is the ranking Democrat now, but it has been reported that Nancy Pelosi, en route to her own position a while back, cut a deal with the Congressional Black Caucus to move Alcee Hastings up to the Chairmanship.  And why not?  It's only national security we are talking about.  Michael Barone is cogent on Ms. Harman's problems (and did you know she was a self-financing Dem because of her hubby?  I hear that now.)

Of course, Pelosi may not have the votes to pull this off, if we can believe the Wash Times.  Dems in but Pelosi out?  That would brighten a grim November.

MORE:  Here is what ought to be a permalink into the NY Times archive for the original article.  The sourcing is mentioned as follows:

More than a dozen United States government officials and outside experts were interviewed for this article, and all spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a classified intelligence document. The officials included employees of several government agencies, and both supporters and critics of the Bush administration. All of those interviewed had either seen the final version of the document or participated in the creation of earlier drafts. These officials discussed some of the document’s general conclusions but not details, which remain highly classified.

The Times makes the same point in their follow-up, which identifies the staffer as Larry Hanauer and tells us this:

Mr. Hanauer, who joined the committee staff last year after working for the Defense Department and the Booz Allen Hamilton, the consulting firm, remains on the panel payroll and retains his security clearance.

We knew all that, and more.

STILL MORE:  TIME reports that Jane Harman is being investigated for engaging in politics while trying to save her seniority. 

Comments

[clarice]

He's right about Harman's shift. Until a few months ago she was reasonable and responsible.

In fact, I was surprised at what a good job she was doing--as scandalistas recall she left the Carter administration (after being caught most say in flagrante with her present husband in a govt office) and the WaPo article a day after Carter fired her in which she said her abrupt departure was for "the sake of the children" is still regarded as a classic dance de chutzpah.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

I posted this in the other thread from Mac's site as additional info:

April 25, 2004 WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS; Julie Breslow, Laurence Hanauer …

Mr. Hanauer, 34, is a consultant on homeland security and intelligence issues at Booz Allen Hamilton, the consulting firm in McLean, Va. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and received a master’s degree in international relations from Tufts. From 1995 to 2003, Mr. Hanauer was a foreign policy adviser in the office of the Secretary of Defense, working primarily on Middle Eastern and European security issues.

Carol

Left by Carol Johnson on October 20th, 2006

[clarice]

Someone--I think cathy--posted a more detailed bil on another thread from source watch--Hanauer was a Clinton appointee to the DoD.

[clarice]

Someone--I think cathy--posted a more detailed biO on another thread from source watch--Hanauer was a Clinton appointee to the DoD.************

[Sara (Squiggler)]

I have a an update with as far as I can tell what is known so far, including the Source Watch info National Security Leaker - UPDATE - Identified - bumped I bumped it from yesterday and intend to keep it up to date as new links come in.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Hoekstra is on Fox right now. He has suspended "the staffer" from access to intelligence and from the committee spaces, but he has not lost his job or pay, yet. Hoekstra was talking about the leaker, but he kept saying "they" and "them." Sloppy? or a hint of more?

[Sue]

He is either the world's most unluckiest person...

He received the document on Sept. 21, two days before the Sept. 23 article in The Times.

...or a doofus of the worst sort.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

AJ adds this to the knowledge base:

Addendum: It seems Mr. Hanauer is not a fan of the Iraq conflict, at least from what we can tell from his own words at a Council of Foreign Relations event in 2005:

QUESTIONER: Larry Hanauer with Booz, Allen, Hamilton. There’s a lot of discussion about regime change, whether it’s something that we or some other outside force instigates, or whether regime change just comes about through ordinary demographic change over time. But I’m wondering if anyone has given thought to really what comes next. The regime change would change the whole political structure, as Ambassador Palmer has said; it would change the economic structure of the country [Iran]. And I think we’re seeing now in Iraq what happens when we pursue regime change without adequately thinking about the aftermath. So I’m wondering what might come next, and who in the U.S. government is thinking about it?

[Davis]

There should not be any Democrats working as staff on committees handling sensitive information. Democratic Senators and House members should have all of their communications monitored, if that is not already being done. No Democrat members of either body should be allowed to travel outside the country on official business, or have communications with representatives of foreign governments.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

AJ also has this:

From this site of a young man working or visiting the Hill (search on Hanauer), I learned Larry Hanauer did a stint on the staff of NY Rep Joseph Crowley, giving Hanauer a NY connection and probably press contacts with the NY Times. Crowley’s official site is here. So that establishes a path to the NY news media.

[Don]

Have you people learned nothing from the infamous Schiavo memo affair-revealed to be written by a Republican staffer when Powerass was just about to go on TV and show how he had proved Dems had written it based on supersecret language analysis?

Hell, I bet there's a post on it in the JOM archives full of your sniveling comments.

In any event, does this poor Dem staffer get habeas corpus rights?

[SlimGuy]

If you look at the list of "TERM MEMBERS" at the CFR site, it has lots of interesting names but one that jumps out along with Hanauer is Amed Chalabi

[Neo]

Is this Booz Allen Hamilton, the same Booz Allen tht did the accounting and oversight of the SWIFT monitoring program ?

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Sounds like Don is just a wee bit afraid that National Security leaks and leakers plays better with the voter than some gay guy's sexual fantasies.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Neo -- I have been wondering why Booz Allen Hamilton sounded so familiar?

[Jane]

His wife is a DC Judge.

http://www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/about/media/press/2002/121202.jsp

[SunnyDay]

There is also some speculation that this is a little tit for tat with Harman for releasing the internal investigation info on Cunningham.

Clarise - I agree about Harman - she seemed to be sensible, then suddenly changed.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

From their website:
http://www.boozallen.com/

Booz Allen Hamilton, a leading global consulting firm, has more than 18,000 employees serving clients on six continents. Integrating the full range of consulting capabilities, Booz Allen is the one firm that helps government and commercial clients solve their toughest problems with services in strategy, operations, organization and change, and information technology.

[Sue]

In any event, does this poor Dem staffer get habeas corpus rights?

Not in here he doesn't.

However, if he is charged with something criminal, I'm sure some enterprising civil liberties lawyer will manage to get him a few of his constitutional rights that have been taken away during this administration. Habeas may or may not be one of them, though.

[Sue]

http://intelligence.house.gov/Media/PDFS/Harman040405.pdf>Per AJ Strata

He works for Harman.

[SlimGuy]

There is a rather lenthy three part article series starting with this link

http://militaryweek.com/columns/withoutreservation.php?id=9

Of someone who was at the pentagon when the Iraq war runup was going on.

Lots of detailed info, but seems to sound a little like someone with an axe to grind.

Was originally posted as the same series over at American Conservative.

[Gary Maxwell]

No speculation SunnyDay. The Republican vice chair ( the guy who wrote the letter to Hoekstra I am drawing a blank on the name was interviewed on TV earlier today. He basically said he was angry with the political plays by the Democrats on the intelligence committee and singled out Harman for reproach for releasing stuff on Cunnigham to the media cuz she wanted to make Republicans look bad. So he said basically if we are going air dirty linen in public why not tell the American people the likely leaker on a matter of National Security. Hoekstra has only pulled this staffer's security clearance. He has a job and is getting paid. If Dems dont like it tough. They showed the Republicans how to fight dirty. If Libby had to resign, why shouldn't this guy stay away from the sensitive stuff ( assuming anything coming from the CIA can meet that description ) until we know?

[clarice]

His wife isn't a judge. She's a magistrate who handles cases involving abused children.

Different thing. Judges have to be nominated by a committee with broad reach--from three nominees for every slot, the president picks one.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Jane -- a social services do-gooder type. Save me from them! Witness protection program? Yikes! Oh, be nice Sara, she is obviously a smart woman and probably feels your pain.

[Neo]

does this poor Dem staffer get habeas corpus rights?

Of course, but JOM reserves all claims to corpus delicti requests.

[Gary Maxwell]

OT OT OT

BIG NEWS Supreme Court smacks down the 9th circuit again. Reverses and remands the Arizona voter ID law decision. At least in Arizona for this election you cant vote with your Malibu grand prix card. Or even worse with no ID at all.

[Neo]

Larry Hanauer
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Tufts-Fletcher-AlumniClubs-DC
[email protected]
Council on Foreign Relations. Membership Roster. 2004

As the momentum for war began to build in early 2002, Wolfowitz and Feith beefed up the intelligence unit and created an Iraq war-planning unit in the Pentagon's Near East and South Asia Affairs section, run by Deputy Undersecretary of Defense William Luti, under the rubric "Office of Special Plans," or OSP; the new unit's director was Abram N. Shulsky. By then, Wurmser had moved on to a post as senior adviser to Undersecretary of State John Bolton, yet another neocon, who was in charge of the State Department's disarmament, proliferation, and WMD office and was promoting the Iraq war strategy there. Shulsky's OSP, which incorporated the secret intelligence unit, took control, banishing veteran experts‚ -- including Joseph McMillan, James Russell, Larry">http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/01/12_405-2.html">Larry Hanauer, and Marybeth McDevitt‚ -- who, despite years of service to NESA, either were shuffled off to other positions or retired. For the next year, Luti and Shulsky not only would oversee war plans but would act aggressively to shape the intelligence product received by the White House.

[SlimGuy]

The three part article I referenced above now turns out to be authored by a person who is very much on the Bush Lied side of the fence about the Iraq war runup.

She appears on many of theose sites
Karen Kwiatkowski is her name.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Well, well, I guess we now know why Harman went ballistic.

[topsecretk9]

Karen Kwiatkowski is her name.

VIPs

[Sara (Squiggler)]

NEO, do you have a source for the CFR info?

[rob]

Turns out he did just for payback:

LAHOOD: Yeah, I’ll tell you why I did it, Jane. The reason why I did it is because Jane Harman released the Duke Cunningham — who sat on our Intelligence committee — report, in violation of the trust that she gave to Chairman Hoekstra, in saying that it would be released in a bipartisan way. She released it arbitrarily, and I’m furious about that. She betrayed the trust of the committee because that report was to be released in a bipartisan way. She released it to the media just to embarrass, 21 days before the election, Republicans on the committee. That’s the reason that I released my letter today.

ANCHOR: So it’s payback?

LAHOOD: Look it, this is–we’re in the political season, and if the ranking member on our committee wants to play politics, there’re some of us on the other side that can equally play politics, and I’m not afraid to do it.

[azredneck]

Too late! My signature was good enuff for mailin ballot. (course it always will be under that statute)

[Sara (Squiggler)]

VIPs? What?

[Davis]

Karen Kwiatkowski was a desk officer at the Pentagon during the run-up to the Iraq cmapaign, and claims to have handled some of the pre-war intelligence. Based on her previous intelligence jobs, she should not be allowed to publish articles.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Hired Jonathan Turley, Constitutional lawyer.

Hoeskstra says other things going on in Intelligence Committee leave no doubt his actions were well warranted. Me thinks Hanauer is in mucho trouble grande.

[Neo]

http://www.namebase.org/xham/Larry-Hanauer.html

[8track]

So no one else had this document before/besides the Democratic staffer?

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Turley's George Washing U. bio:

Jonathan Turley J.B. and Maurice Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law; Director of the Environmental Law Advocacy Center; Executive Director, Project for Older Prisoners

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (202) 994-7001
Fax: (202) 994-9811
Mailing address

Education: B.A. University of Chicago; J.D., Northwestern University

Biographical Sketch: Jonathan Turley is a nationally recognized legal scholar who has written extensively in areas ranging from constitutional law to legal theory to tort law. After a stint at Tulane Law School, Professor Turley joined the GW Law faculty in 1990, and in 1998 became the youngest chaired professor in the school’s history. He is the founder and executive director of the Project for Older Prisoners (POPS). He has written over three dozen academic articles that have appeared in a variety of leading law journals at Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Northwestern, and other schools. He most recently completed a three-part study of the historical and constitutional evolution of the military system. Professor Turley has served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades, including his representation of the Area 51 workers at a secret air base in Nevada; the nuclear couriers at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; the Rocky Flats grand jury in Colorado; Dr. Eric Foretich, the husband in the famous Elizabeth Morgan custody controversy; and four former U.S. attorneys general during the Clinton impeachment litigation. Professor Turley has also served as counsel in a variety of national security and terrorism cases, and has been ranked as one of the top ten lawyers handling military cases. He has served as a consultant on homeland security and constitutional issues, and is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues as well as tort reform legislation. He is also a nationally recognized legal commentator; he ranked 38th in the top 100 most cited ‘public intellectuals’ in a recent study by Judge Richard Posner and was found to be the second most cited law professor in the country. He is a member of the USA Today board of contributors and the recipient of ‘2005 Single Issue Advocate of the Year’—the annual opinion award for the Aspen Institute and The Week magazine. His more than 400 articles on legal and policy issues have appeared i

Current Semester Courses: Environmental Crimes Project, Environmental Law Clinic, Environmental Legislation Proj, Prisoners Project, Torts

[Gary Maxwell]

Boy the moonbat seem to be in disarray about a repsonse on this. Time for the townhouse memo to get the word out. Lets see Hoekstra is a political hack and LaHood plays politics with National Security. Bet me. How they will keep a straight face after what Harman did will be the true marvel to anyone who knows what is going on, well except the credulous media, who most likely will play along with the whole outrage.

Afterthought, if you have not lost your pay or job and the investigation is likely to show that, why would you go to the expense of a high priced Constitutional lawyer? $300-500 per hour makes it seem like there might be fire cuz I see smoke...

[topsecretk9]

Sara

Scroll down to

--A Call to Patriotic Whistleblowing

September 9, 2004 . Washington, DC---

and see the SIGNATORIES atSweetness and Light

All the usual suspects.

[Gary Maxwell]

Maybe this Lahood cat needs a promotion to a leadership position? Seems like a guy who understands it ait beanbag. Worst thing that has happened to house leadership is that Gingrich, Armey and DeLay are gone. These guys were not afraid to fight back with the Dems. I miss that, even if I did not agree with Armey and DeLay on a bunch of matters.

[topsecretk9]

--Hired Jonathan Turley, Constitutional lawyer.

Hoeskstra says other things going on in Intelligence Committee leave no doubt his actions were well warranted. Me thinks Hanauer is in mucho trouble grande.

Posted by: Sara (Squiggler) | October 20, 2006 at 03:17 PM--

There is already an empaled grand jury in West Virginia...McCarthy, Tice...

[Sara (Squiggler)]

8track -- apparently he requested it from Negroponte the Intelligence Czar, probably on behalf of Harman, as I doubt Negroponte would have released it to a staffer without the Member's request. 2 days later it was on the front page of the NYTs.

[azredneck]

LaHood for Speaker!!!

[Jane]

Sheesh - this story has been up for 10 minutes and I'm already falling behind. How can a senate aide also work for Booz Allen?

I know a bunch of people who work there. Hmmmm.

I've never been terribly impressed with Turley. He should have gotten his education in reverse order.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Thanks TS, so Hanauer is connected to Karen Kwiatkowski and she is a signatore on the "start leaking meme" by Larry Johnson, et al. I think I'm going to get sick.

What is going on with MOM? Why do these people remain free to roam around DC?

[Jane]

Okay I cleared that up - he left Booz Allen to work for Harmon. But I'm still not impressed with Turley.

[topsecretk9]

How did you guys find out he hired Turley?

[Davis]

Don't even suggest that Pelosi might not be Speaker if the Dems sqeek out an (increasingly) unlikely win. The image of her in that position is enough to swing 20 districts.

[Jane]

Surprise Surprise: Karen Kwiatkowski has a blog!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-kwiatkowski/constitution-shmonstitut_b_11975.html

[Jane]

How did you guys find out he hired Turley?

I heard it on Fox

[topsecretk9]

I heard it on Fox

oh, thanks.

[Jane]

Maybe this Lahood cat needs a promotion to a leadership position?

Lahood has a reputation of being a good even handed arbiter of difficult issues. He is often called on in committee when a deal needs to be reached - again according to Fox. It's obvious Harmon's leak really made him mad.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Jane -- I know how you feel. I'm trying to keep up with all the brains here and update my own site as we go. Getting confusing already and the story is only a couple hours old.

[Jane]

stop

Please

[Jane]

where is the italics stopper when we need him?

[topsecretk9]

Get the feeling the Bushies sorta set a honeypot for the leakers, by never going too aggressive --the leakers have gotten cockier, brazen, coordinated ( ahem conspiracy like charge) and now there can be no doubt of the crime since there is so many leaks?

and there is that quiet grand jury in place?

[topsecretk9]

off?

[Terrye]

Well well well, got caught with their pants did they not?

[Gary Maxwell]

Want to bet some Dems are wishing the guy with the pants down again was Foley and not an aide to the ranking minority member of the House Intelligence committee?

[SlimGuy]

Karen Kwiatkowski is a staff journal contributor at Military.com

May sound right wing by the name , but not so.

[topsecretk9]

--not an aide to the ranking minority member of the House Intelligence committee?--

IIRC...right after the leak, and then POS ordered it released, Harmen was the one to pipe up there was more or some such.

[MayBee]

Kwiatkowski is a LaRouche person and unreliable as any kind of source:

n her expose to the LaRouche organization, the substance of which was later published in The American Conservative magazine, Kwiatkowski alleged that there was a purge of desk officers within International Security Affairs. Not true. Kwiatkowski may have been upset that some colleagues received promotions when she did not. For example, Kwiatkowski implies that Larry Hanauer ceased being an Israel desk officer. But, he subsequently became special assistant to Jay Garner; that's a promotion, not a purge.

http://www.nationalreview.com/rubin/rubin200405180836.asp

[Davis]

Karen Kwiatkowski claims to be Libertarian. So it is no surprise that she also gets published on Lew Rockwell's website. She didn't last long in the Pentagon and retired; now she thinks she is an intellectual. Her inside information is 3 or 4 years old, but she still shouldn't be allowed to write about it.

[roanoke]

The staffer acted appropriately by requesting the document for a committee member, and Hoekstra’s "unilateral commencement" of an investigation violates committee rules, Harman added.

She said Hoekstra admitted to her that his action was retaliation for the release of the parts of the Cunningham report.

"If you have a problem with me, why not deal with me directly?" Harman ended her letter.

The GOP leadership is capitalizing on the fight.

"I hope Democrats would never knowingly and illegally leak sensitive information just to score political points," said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), "and that's what an investigation would determine.

"It is absolutely necessary that the House Intel Committee conduct a thorough review of the illegal leak of intelligence to The New York Times in wartime," Blunt said. "I support Chairman Hoekstra’s decision to suspend a staffer who may have orchestrated the leak until all the facts are known."

The Hill

It can't be about what's best for the country, it can't be about an abundance of caution when it comes to matters of national security-nope Harman resorting to the theme of Democrats-"It's all about ME!"

You pair that with Ford's performance and you've got a party so long out of power they no longer understand the concept of acting responsible.

{I know this is off topic -but Ford trying to get Corker to defend Iraq within a sound bite...that is school yard mentality on Ford's part. The media has let them get away with attacks and no sustance for so long that we are about to see the inexperienced irresponsible, and untested by even the tough questions take the reins of the true power of the nation-"the purse strings"- The House.

Holy crap, and people are spinning "that" as a good thing.

[clarice]

I'm reasonably certain they did expect this and have the goods on the guy.

[The Unbeliever]

and there is that quiet grand jury in place?

My sources tell me that Dem staffer will be indicted within 48 business hours. Sealed, of course.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Jay Garner was the Iraq guy after Brehmer wasn't he? He didn't last very long and I heard recently he was disgruntled.

[Davis]

Like Tony Snow said, there was nothing in that dated NIE that hadn't already been made public. So whoever leaked it is going down for nothing and will never work again in Washington.

[roanoke]

Harman is fighting to get the guy's security clearance re-instated.

Hopefully an indictment takes care of that.

We haven't lawyered that comon sense approach out of government have we?

[Sue]

If Harman is not involved in the leak, she could have scored some political points by saying something as simple as "if my staffer is involved in the leak of national security information, his security clearance should be pulled." That she didn't say that makes me wonder about what she knew and when she knew it.

[SlimGuy]

Aj links to a pdf of a press release naming Hanauer as newly hired Harmon staffer.

So this links him back to all of the early hits on Hanauer information.

[SlimGuy]

Sue

What is even worse is she demanded immediate reinstatement of the clearance..a definite no no in security circles.

[Jane]

Sara,

You got an insta-launch! Congrats!

[Sara (Squiggler)]

There is no way Negroponte released that document to a staffer without Harman's or the Chairman's approval. Being Harman's staffer, I think she is going to get dirtied by this too.

[jerry]

Ha, if you're looking for an Intelligence oxymoron kingpin take a peek at Pat Roberts -- Mr. Bad for the Party is Bad for the Country, except of course it seems the reverse was actually more true.

[MayBee]

Sara-
Jay Garner was the guy before Bremer. He was pulled early due to State Dept/Pentagon wrangling.
Back when people were saying cracking down on the looting and having our military roam the streets were actually making Iraqis hate us. And when the biggest complaint was that we weren't leaving fast enough, not that we didn't have enough troops to maintain the peace.

[roanoke]

Sue

At the least you'd think she'd have more political savy than that-she can't put security first?

Another thing-maybe for the Intelligence Committee-you staff it with guys and gals that you can court martial-military.

No political hacks in there for you Congress "people"!

{OK there's probably some problems with that...}

You know as a Democrat you'd think that Jane could think about the common good when it comes to national security rather than herself.

Who investigates this-the FBI or DOJ?

You have to get it out of the political realm or appearance there of pronto yet the articles are still saying that Hoekstra is going to "interview" the staffer.

Why not let the FBI of DOJ do that-immediately?

[PeterUK]

Sara,

You got an insta-launch! Congrats!

Very well deserved.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Oh my gawd, I think I'm going to faint. I just got an Instalaunch on this. Help, where are smelling salts.

[Lamont P]

How many voters are going to care that a months-old NIE was leaked, when even the White House said there was nothing in it that the President hadn't already discussed? The national security voters are not going to vote Democrat no matter what. And it will just raise the issue of why the report hadn't been issued already in some edited form.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Need to find Hoeskstra's transcript of the Fox interview from earlier. He made it sound like they had been on this for awhile, even though this particular leak is relatively recent. Could the NIE leak have been a trap for former leaks? Maybe that is why the info was so innocuous.

[topsecretk9]

This is interesting...

...More along that theme (many multiple sources) http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/...areas=deception Complete timeline of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq: Politicization of intelligence and deception

September 11, 2001-March 17, 2003
In the months leading up to the war with Iraq, Bush administration officials manipulate the intelligence provided to them by analysts in order to drum up support for the invasion. Some analysts complain that they are under pressure to write assessments that support the administration's case for invading Iraq. On March 7, 2002, Knight Ridder reports that various military officials, intelligence employees, and diplomats in the Bush administration have charged “that the administration squelches dissenting views and that intelligence analysts are under intense pressure to produce reports supporting the White House's argument that Hussein poses such an immediate threat to the United States that preemptive military action is necessary.”

[Knight Ridder, 10/7/02 Sources: Larry Hanauer, Andrew Wilkie, Patrick Lang, Larry C. Johnson, Ray McGovern, Greg Thielmann, Patrick G. Eddington, Robin Cook, Several unnamed US intelligence officials, David Albright, Menzies Campbell, Vincent Cannistraro, Bob Graham, Stansfield Turner, Richard ("Dick") Cheney, Knight Ridder Newspapers, Scott Ritter, Richard A. Clarke, Seymour Hersh, David Albright, Karen Kwiatkowski, Demetrius Perricos, Edward Kennedy, Simon Crean, Joseph Cirincione, Ivan Eland, Mel Goodman, John Prados, Jonathan Dean]

Link doesn't work though.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

If these guys, along with Harman, are hooked up with Larry Johnson, then as far as I'm concerned, they are dirty, dirty, dirty. It also explains many many leaks, wouldn't you say?

[Sue]

You got an insta-launch! Congrats!

What the heck is an insta-launch?

How many voters are going to care that a months-old NIE was leaked,

Are you saying Harman over reacted then?

[Jane]

An Insta-launch is a link by Instapundit. I got one once Sara so I know exactly how you feel. Watch your traffic soar! It's very cool.

[SlimGuy]

Maybe that is why the info was so innocuous.

Posted by: Sara (Squiggler) | October 20, 2006 at 04:47 PM

Dale in Atlanta is ex marine intel officer, he had a long post about the nie docs being useless summaries of 16 intel agencies and it is their concensus document that all have to approve each stop on the ladder.

So you end up with strained baby food by the time it reaches the end.

[Jane]

It also explains many many leaks, wouldn't you say?

Oh I betcha they are all coming from the same network.

[SlimGuy]

TS9

That site works along the bush-lied meme, you get a lot of their output at Huffington post and similiar places

[SlimGuy]

Sara

You also got a link from Macsmind

[roanoke]

Nancy Pelosi just doubled down on stupid-

Nancy decides to gamble with National Security and fight ofr the rights of one staffer-

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi sent the following letter to Speaker Hastert today regarding Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra's unilateral suspension of a Democratic staffer's security clearance.

Below is the text of the letter:

October 20, 2006

The Honorable J.
Dennis Hastert

Speaker

United States House of Representatives

H 232 The Capitol

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Speaker:

I am writing to reiterate the concerns I expressed to you earlier today about the outrageous action taken by Intelligence Committee Chairman Hoekstra, against a member of the Democratic staff.

There is nothing more important than keeping Americans safe. You and I share the critical goals of protecting our national security and safeguarding the intelligence processes upon which our security depends. Mr. Hoekstra's action furthers neither goal.

The unilateral decision by Mr. Hoekstra to suspend the clearances of a Democratic staff member without consultation with the Ranking Democrat, Congresswoman Harman, or an investigation of any kind is unprecedented and reckless. Any action against a staff member's clearance should come at the conclusion of an investigation, not before one even begins, and a decision to undertake an investigation should only come after consultation with the Ranking Democrat, as required by committee rules.

Update Correction Nancy Pelosi Letter to Hastert

Unilateral.....how about this staffer's unilateral decision to go to the NYT?

How about the fact that Hoekstra called the Dem Committee members a couple of days earlier and gave them a chance to act bilaterally in the interest of national security and suspend the staffer's access to classified materials?

They took a pass on that-instead they chose to fight for one staffer's need to know rather than in abundance of caution, acting and fighting for and taking resbonsibility for National Security.

When Nancy replaces Jane with-Alcee Hastings he will act less self interested....

What was that corruption scandal he was involved in a few years back?

[roanoke]

Italics off.

[Sue]

How many hours has it been since his name was revealed? Plenty of time for Jane and Nancy to go nuclear over stripping him of his clearance. Plenty of time to deny the allegations...

...chirp...chirp...chirp

[clarice]

Congrats, Sara!

[roanoke]

SlimGuy-

So now the Dems will cry entrapment?

[richard mcenroe]

Davis -- "There should not be any Democrats working"... stop right there and you've got it covered.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Bribery, roanoke. He was a Florida judge at the time.

[Sara (Squiggler)]

Alcye Hastings was impeached. I watched his impeachment trial on CSPAN. Seems like a lifetime ago.