Tensions are rising inside the House Intelligence Committee over the White House’s refusal to fully brief lawmakers on events leading up to the arrest of accused Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad. Angry at having been kept in the dark during previous terrorist incidents, all nine Republican members of the committee have sent a letter to President Obama accusing the administration of withholding critical national security information. “A clear pattern has emerged,” the lawmakers write, “of the administration refusing to provide requested briefings or information or to engage with us despite repeated requests on issues such as Guantanamo, the Fort Hood attack, the Christmas Day attack, Yemen, critical issues involving the FISA Court, and now the Times Square attack.”
The GOP committee members say the law requires the president to keep the House and Senate intelligence committees “fully and currently” informed about intelligence matters. “The administration may not lawfully refuse to fully and currently inform the committee or instruct intelligence agencies not to provide requested information necessary to intelligence oversight,” they write.
That is a clear reference to the unhappiness many members have felt in the days since the Times Square bombing attempt. Even though administration officials were holding news conferences highlighting their success in apprehending Shahzad, they ignored some congressional requests for briefings. On Wednesday, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who had requested and not been given a briefing on the Times Square matter, said the White House was preventing intelligence agencies from speaking to Congress — a pattern Hoekstra said has been consistent through the Ft. Hood, Christmas Day, and now Times Square incidents. “There are some really good people in the intelligence community who have wanted to share information in all of those cases,” Hoekstra said. “And they were just very frustrated by the clamps that the White House has put on them.”
The letter to Obama was signed by Hoekstra and Reps. Elton Gallegly, Mac Thornberry, Mike Rogers, Sue Myrick, Roy Blunt, Jeff Miller, Michael Conaway and Peter King — the entire Republican side of the Intelligence Committee. “We cannot work with you collaboratively to ensure our national security if you do not meet these fundamental obligations,” they conclude.
Below is the entire text of the letter.
We are writing to express our significant concern at the affirmative efforts that the administration has repeatedly taken to withhold information from members of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on critical national security matters.
Unfortunately, a clear pattern has emerged of the administration refusing to provide requested briefings or information or to engage with us despite repeated requests on issues such as Guantanamo, the Fort Hood attack, the Christmas Day attack, Yemen, critical issues involving the FISA Court, and now the Times Square attack. The law unambiguously requires you personally to ensure that the congressional intelligences committees are kept “fully and currently informed” and that departments and agencies “furnish any information or material concerning intelligence activities.” The administration may not lawfully refuse to fully and currently inform the committee or instruct intelligence agencies not to provide requested information necessary to intelligence oversight.
We cannot work with you collaboratively to ensure our national security if you do not meet these fundamental obligations.
