The New Jersey Democratic legislator and intelligence oversight maven has finally won on a fight he’s waged to record military interrogations. As The Wall Street Journal reports, a May 10 memo from Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn instructs interrogators gathering high-value intelligence off the battlefield — that is, Bagram More…
If former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, former CIA Director Mike Hayden and White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan weren’t enough, here comes Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), chairman of the House’s intelligence oversight board, to blast former Vice President Dick Cheney for not “understand[ing] the difference between talking tough More…
Political candidates often invoke God and spirituality on the campaign trail, but Rev. Richard Killmer, executive director of the National Religious Campaign against Torture, would like more pols to live up to those professed beliefs once they’re in office. President Obama, for example, has spoken eloquently More…
The conference report to next fiscal year’s defense appropriations bill includes a provision long — and I mean long — sought by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.): a requirement for military interrogators to videotape their interrogation sessions. (The CIA, which is no longer in the lead on high-value interrogations, has More…
Read Marcy Wheeler for a blistering takedown of CIA Director Leon Panetta’s Washington Post op-ed yesterday. The short version of Panetta’s argument is that he proved his good faith by informing Congress about the “significant actions” he shuttered, but Congress reacted with “a fresh round of recriminations about More…
To investigate the merits of a new Church committee to take a comprehensive look at intelligence activities, I asked someone who was part of the first one in the 1970s: retired Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.). While Hart saw significant differences between the Bush administration’s intelligence abuses and those of More…
Through the wonders of Twitter, Nick Schwellenbach sends along this piece he wrote way way back in 2007 about the need for a new Church committee. Consider it valuable background for my piece today. Basically, Nick argued, don’t look to the courts to save you:
After
Speaking to Newark Star-Ledger columnist Bob Braun, Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) goes to the absolute last place the CIA wants to go:
Holt said he believes the investigation, which he also called a review, should be as intense and comprehensive as the probe conducted more than 30 years ago
After interviewing Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) a few minutes ago, I think I want to revise and extend my comment this morning that most members of Congress alarmed over the revelation of “significant actions” by the CIA that Director Leon Panetta recently stopped were more concerned with not being More…
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