That’s the question facing Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff. Right now many committee members do not have staffers with the Top Secret clearance necessary to review many classified records. Daniel Schuman in Just Security: Members of HPSCI must rely on committee staff to support them on highly classified matters, and those staff are hired by...
Category: Congress
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‘Potentially Dangerous Situation’: Congress Must Revisit National Emergencies Act
The National Emergencies Act is a little- known law that’s been getting a lot of attention. Passed in 1976, the law empowers the president to declare a “National Emergency,” which gives him or her statutory authority to transfer surplus weapons, deploy troops for disaster response, and the like. The law is so often invoked–an average...
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Coming Soon: Big #MLK #RFK #JFK Developments
Check in with me here next Monday, January 21, Martin Luther King Day. I’m proud to be joining with lots of other people in the unveiling a major petition effort signed by more than 50 prominent American citizens. The joint statement is aimed at moving Congress to investigate deeply troubling, long-buried chapters in American history. After reading...
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Republicans Ask for Update on Justice Department’s FISA Review
For the past nine months, a senior Justice Department official has been reviewing FBI and DOJ compliance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Now three Republican members of Congress want to know what he has learned. Last March Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed John Huber, U.S. Attorney for Utah, to investigate alleged “irregularities” in...
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Haspel’s Pick for Deputy CIA Director Fulfills Brennan’s Plan
The appointment of a new Deputy Director of Analysis at the CIA shows how the vocabulary of the intelligence profession evolves to clarify (or conceal) the agency’s mission. Cynthia Rapp, a career CIA official in charge of preparing the President’s Daily Brief, will head the component of the agency that used to be called the...