White House To Share Its Intelligence And Covert Operations With More Members In Congress

White House Agrees To Share Covert Operations Information With More Members Of Congress -- Washington Post

Senate and House intelligence committee leaders and the White House have agreed on measures that would require the administration to share information on covert operations with a larger group of overseers, congressional sources said Monday.

The compromise might mean that Congress will pass an intelligence authorization bill this year, the first time since 2004.

According to a draft bill that the House sent the Senate on Friday, the White House would be required to notify the full membership of both congressional intelligence committees of presidential directives to conduct covert action, known as "findings." At present, the administration is required to notify only the so-called Gang of Eight, the chairmen and ranking members of each committee and the party leadership in both chambers.

Read more ....

My Comment: The White House has had to make some hard decisions in the past year .... assassinations, drone strikes, expanding the covert war against terror .... there are a number of legal issues that I am sure the White House must be worried about .... especially if certain laws and rules have been violated (which would not surprise me if they were). Getting Congress involved is just one way to cover "one's ass", and covering any decision that goes wrong by expanding the pool of politicians who must now be held accountable for their decisions.

On a side note, expect more leaks to come out from these committees as a result of this new policy.