Spy bill with disclosure demands is blocked
The Senate’s efforts to wrap up an intelligence spending bill hit a snag this week when a Republican lawmaker blocked legislation that would force the Bush administration to divulge more about secret CIA prisons and the prewar Iraq intelligence.
It’s unclear who the senator is or what the precise objections are.
Two separate amendments — from Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John Kerry, D-Mass. — would require the national intelligence director to provide classified information on secret CIA prisons to congressional intelligence committees. The agency has not acknowledged that the sites exist.
Another Kennedy-sponsored provision would require the White House to give the Senate Intelligence Committee copies of the president’s intelligence briefings that discussed Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion. The measure requests the documents from Jan. 20, 2000, through March 19, 2003, covering parts of the Clinton and Bush administrations.
Kennedy is pushing for amendment to show that Congress did not receive the same prewar intelligence that the White House did, as some administration officials have stated. He wants the president’s daily briefs as part of a Senate inquiry into the Iraq intelligence.