Intelligence committees don't work well unless their members put country above party to a greater degree than in, say, a tax committee. Leaks are harmful, and open discussion especially useful. And it is desirable that the majority party and the Administration feel safe in sharing information with the minority party, since we want the minority party involved. Here is the story:
The Kansan is chairman of the committee. The memo was written by Democratic committee
staff and wasn't finalized or circulated among members of the committee, said the
panel's senior Democrat, West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller.
Rockefeller acknowledged the document after news reports quoted excerpts from it. The
memo spells out steps to make the committee's inquiry irrelevant by setting up an
independent commission, and in the process attempt to "castigate" majority Republicans.
It suggested "pulling the trigger" on the plan "probably next year."
Roberts said the memo stunned him.
"It's like a personal slap in the face," he said. "I'm very frustrated by it."
"We cannot politicize the committee," he said. "No member of the intelligence community
wants to come up and testify before a committee that is whipsawed by politics. ..."
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts said Democrats have undermined the inquiry he is leading
into Iraq prewar intelligence by drafting a memo aimed at discrediting the Senate
Intelligence Committee's work.
The Democrats reject nonpoliticization here as elsewhere. The ranking Democrat,
Senator Rockefeller, makes it explicit that he is not unhappy with his staff, and he
does not deny that he personally ordered his staff to explore ways to discredit the
committee (read his words carefully):
He added: "The draft memo was not approved, nor was it shared with any member of the
Senate Intelligence Committee or anyone else.
"Having said that, the memo clearly reflects staff frustration with the conduct of the
Senate Intelligence Committee investigation and the difficulties of obtaining
information from the administration."
He said that exploring or asserting the rights of the committee's Democratic minority
doesn't politicize the process.
In a statement he issued afterward, Rockefeller dismissed the memo as "likely taken from
a waste basket or through unauthorized computer access."
As usual, the Republicans will be too weak-willed to respond appropriately--in this
case, I would think, by firing the staffers, something Senator Roberts could no doubt do
as Chairman.
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