Blog - Articles Tagged 'intelligence'

Chalk one up for enhanced congressional oversight of secret intelligence programs. In the Intelligence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010 that was passed under unanimous consent in the Senate on Monday night and is expected to go through the House of Representatives on Wednesday, there's a provision that would number of lawmakers who have to be informed about covert intelligence operations that the CIA is engaged in.

One of Congress's most notoriously hawkish duos, Sen. John McCain [R, AZ] and Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I, CT], recently introduced legislation in response to President Obama's decision to try Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day airplane bomber, in a criminal court. Their proposal, which they are calling the Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act, would empower the U.S. military to arrest anyone, U.S. citizen or otherwise, who is suspected of terrorist associations and detain them indefinitely, without right to a trial.

Here's my analysis with links to specific sections of the actual bill text and a few excerpts of key sections.

The House today could vote on an intelligence authorization bill for the current fiscal year, but only after an amendment allowing criminal prosecutions for CIA officers engaging in torture was stripped from it.