A House committee is opening an investigation into whether the intelligence community spied on communications between Israeli officials and members of Congress.
“The House Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations in the Wall Street Journal regarding possible Intelligence Community (IC) collection of communications between Israeli government officials and Members of Congress,” House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The Committee has requested additional information from the IC to determine which, if any, of these allegations are true, and whether the IC followed all applicable laws, rules, and procedures,” Nunes added.
The measure follows a Tuesday report in the Wall Street Journal that the Obama administration, through the National Security Agency, spied on the communications of top Israeli officials during nuclear negotiations with Iran this year. Surveillance of that nature would have involved members of Congress.
WSJ report that NSA spied on Congress and Israel communications very disturbing. Actually outrageous. Maybe unprecedented abuse of power.
— Pete Hoekstra (@petehoekstra) December 30, 2015
Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., who chaired the House Intelligence Committee from 2004 to 2007, called the allegations “very disturbing” in a message on Twitter. “Actually outrageous,” Hoekstra added. “Maybe unprecedented abuse of power.”
In an additional message, Hoesktra said, “NSA and Obama officials need to be investigated and prosecuted if any truth to WSJ reports. NSA loses all credibility. Scary.”
It is not the first time lawmakers have wondered about the scope of NSA surveillance. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., sent a letter to the agency in 2014 questioning whether it spied on members of Congress. The letter defined such activity as “gathering metadata on calls made from official or personal phones, content from websites visited or e-mails sent, or collecting any other data from a third party not made available to the general public in the regular course of business.”
The agency responded that it did not. “Nothing NSA does can fairly be characterized as ‘spying on members of Congress or other American elected officials,’ ” then-NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander wrote in 2014.
Frmr chair of House Intel Comm, 1 of only 8 members of Congress to be briefed on EVERYTHING, inc. covert action. https://t.co/nvDsHmoGyQ
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 30, 2015
Former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden recollected that exchange on Twitter. “Did the NSA lie to Congress? Compare today’s @WSJ to Sanders’ clear 2014 question on spying,” Snowden said Tuesday evening.
The National Security Council offered a vague explanation in a Wednesday statement before pivoting to the topic of Israel.
“As a general matter, and as we have said previously, we do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose,” the statement said. “This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike.
“When it comes to Israel, President Obama has said repeatedly that the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security is sacrosanct,” the statement added. “This message has always been backed by concrete actions that demonstrate the depth of U.S. support for Israel.”
