Insistence on accountability for intelligence programs inches forward

i'm not even sure "inches" is the right term... seems to me this falls into the same category as subpoenas and the iraq war funding proposal... the administration is going to do what they goddam well please... any legislation that has provisions they don't like, they will taser congressional republicans into opposing, and then, if they actually do get passed, will simply obviate with a signing statement...

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has demanded a legal review of the CIA's detention and interrogation program for terrorism suspects as part of its version of the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill.

also...

• [T]he panel called for the president to make public the costs of the national programs whose budgets make up almost three-quarters of the roughly $48 billion proposed for intelligence collection and analysis next year.¹

• [A]ll panel members be notified of such briefings [the most sensitive operations, such as the warrentless domestic wiretapping involving terrorism suspects] and be told about the "main features" of such intelligence activities, including covert actions.

• Joined the House in requiring a study of the impact of global climate change on national security.²

• Increased the maximum penalty for intentionally disclosing the name of an undercover intelligence officer or agent from 10 to 15 years.

• Required the president to provide all President's Daily Briefs that deal with Iraq, from the last four years of the Clinton administration through March 19, 2003, when the U.S.-led coalition began its invasion of that country.³

• Called for presidential nomination and Senate approval of the deputy CIA director as well as the directors of the National Security Agency, which collects electronic intelligence; the National Reconnaissance Office, which designs, builds and manages intelligence-gathering satellites; and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which collects and analyzes imagery.⁴

• Found that the number of personnel in the intelligence community has grown by 20 percent since the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and recommended that additional growth be halted pending further study.

naturally...

¹ The Bush administration has strongly opposed such a disclosure.

² While House Republicans opposed this provision, Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) supported it.

³ [T]his requirement was described by the panel's Republican vice chairman, Sen. Christopher S. Bond (Mo.), as "the most problematic provision in the bill."

⁴ The White House has said it opposes a similar provision in the House bill.

our shadow government...

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