US senators have no excuse for their Niger ignorance

Yet many did not.

Speaking on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., stated, “I didn’t know there was a thousand troops in Niger. John McCain is right to tell the military because this is an endless war without boundaries, no limitation on time or geography, you gotta tell us more. And he’s right to say that.”

Sorry, but I’m not buying it.

First off, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Graham is a senior member of that committee. That committee assignment means that had these senators wanted more information about what the military was doing in Niger, they could have demanded it. Indeed, one of McCain’s greatest strengths as a legislator is his ability to corral the executive branch on matters he is concerned about.

But the failure here is bipartisan. After all, next up on “Meet the Press” was Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, who was asked by moderator Chuck Todd, “as the Senate Democratic Leader, have you been briefed [on the Niger situation]?”

Schumer responded, “Not yet. I hope to be briefed early next week.”

Todd rightly pushed back, “Why haven’t you been briefed? Was Jack Reed [senior Democrat on SASC] briefed?”

“No.” Schumer replied, “I don’t believe he was either. He sent a letter along with John McCain demanding that they come in and brief him.”

Again, these are very poor excuses. As the Senate Minority Leader, Schumer has the authority to demand immediate answers from the military and the intelligence community. In fact, when it comes to intelligence matters, Schumer’s membership of the so-called “gang of eight” means that he has more access to classified information even than senators on the intelligence committee.

Put simply, had Schumer wanted to know more about U.S. operations in Niger, he could have.

What I suspect is going on here is that the senators simply didn’t care enough to educate themselves about the Niger situation until something bad happened. Recognizing that the Green Berets operate quietly in a vast number of nations, senators have chosen to defer to the executive branch in its conduct of national defense. At least as those missions pertain to counter-terrorism and foreign training of allied military forces, I’m supportive of this deference. To publicize sensitive operations against groups like al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb or Boko Haram is to risk their failure.

Still, senators are wrong to blame the military for their own ignorance here. And don’t take my word for it, just consider what Representative Charlie Dent, R-Pa., told CNN on Monday. Describing the Niger operation, Dent stated, “It’s not new, and lawmakers that seem to be aghast at these missions going on are simply not well-read.”

Dent continued: “We have a presence there. Not just there, but within that whole Lake Chad region, supporting local troops to fight Boko Haram, ISIS of West Africa, and of course we’re supporting the French operation in Mali. So we do have all sorts of people in that region fighting a very dangerous foe, and ISIS in West Africa, especially.”

Dent knows this because he’s on the House appropriations committee and did his homework. He also knows this, presumably, because U.S. military operations in Africa have been public knowledge for years now.

Regardless, if Dent knew, those on the armed services committees have no excuses. Or as former Green Beret officer, Ben Collins, puts it…