I had hoped that the natural inclinations of Senators of both parties to protect their personal prerogatives, as well as defend the constitutional powers of the chamber in which they are seated, would have been sufficiently strong enough to contain these sorts of efforts. But the attempts to erode the balance of power continue by the executive branch, abetted by their Republican colleagues in the House and Senate leadership, stripping Congress bit by bit of its essential oversight functions.
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WILL CONGRESS CRIPPLE INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT?
Congressional oversight of intelligence may be sharply diminished as
a result of ongoing negotiations between House and Senate conferees
over pending intelligence reform legislation, the Los Angeles Times
reported yesterday.
"Sen. John D. 'Jay' Rockefeller IV (D-W. Va.), a member of the
conference committee, said the Senate's chief negotiators had
accepted a House demand stripping out all congressional oversight
of the national intelligence director," wrote Mary Curtius in the
Los Angeles Times.
"Rockefeller said that he and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), another
committee member, thought such oversight was essential to ensure
the proper functioning of the intelligence community."
"All the oversight has been stripped out, and that is just
unacceptable," said Rockefeller, the top Democrat on the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence.
See "White House Intervenes on Behalf of Intelligence Bill," by Mary
Curtius, Los Angeles Times, November 17:
http://tinyurl.com/4yqlz
The 9/11 Commission said that strengthening congressional oversight,
not stripping it away, was among its most important recommendations
(Final Report, p. 419).
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Against my well-earned cynicism, I had felt of flicker of optimism from the bipartisan efforts of Senators Lott and Widen to assert a legislative check against the executive instincts to classify every piece of paper or electronic information that moves or might move. My cynicism has been restored.