SENATE RESOLUTION 400---Members CAN Declassify NSA Docs ANYTIME They Want---They Just Don't

[kpete]

Worthy of repeating today (are you listening DiFi?)


Senate intelligence panel could seek to declassify documents; it just doesn’t

Outspoken members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have said frequently that they wanted to warn the public about the National Security Agency’s sweeping collection of telephone records but the program’s highly classified nature prevented them from making public reference to the programs.

That, however, is not the full story. Buried in the pages of Senate Resolution 400, which established the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 1976, is a provision that allows them to try. Across those nearly 40 years, it’s never been used.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/08/12/199122/senate-intelligence-panel-could.html#.Ug6Yn9JzGpB
http://beta.congress.gov/congressional-report/110th-congress/senate-report/3/1



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Four decades without a single challenge being raised. That's rather odd (or obsequious, if you prefer), considering the provision was added with the intent of providing an adversarial avenue to prevent intelligence agencies from controlling the dialog. This addition was added as the Church Committee was replaced by the Senate Intelligence Committee:

Senators foresaw the likelihood of a conflict between the intelligence agencies and the legislative branch. The legislation that established the committee called for it to “provide vigilant legislative oversight over the intelligence activities of the United States.”

As a part of this oversight, Section 8 of the resolution lays out a process by which a member of the Intelligence Committee may seek the declassification of information that he or she thinks is of public interest, even if the executive branch labels the material top secret.

“The select committee may, subject to the provisions of this section, disclose publicly any information in the possession of such committee after a determination by such committee that the public interest would be served by such disclosure,” the section reads.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130814/01083324168/senate-intelligence-committee-has-been-able-to-challenge-classification-documents-forty-years-it-just-has-never-done-it.shtml

[Skidmore]

1. You mean Congress actually is

responsible for something?

[DJ13]

2. Their communications are monitored as well

Thats why this kind of widespread spying is so dangerous, who would speak out against it and risk having some dark secret exposed?

[David Krout]

3. They can declassify docs. only if a majority of the intelligence committee members agree

Readers should not think that Wyden, for example, could invoke that section and simply declassify something himself.

And since we know the intelligence committee members are the most NSA-friendly members of Congress (with a few exceptions), we have to conclude that it's not as easy as you and the article make it appear.

Wyden would never convince that NSA loyalists in his committee to declassify anything, for example.

[kpete]

4. funny you should mention Wyden:

Asked about the authority, Wyden confessed that he didn’t know the provision existed. His Intelligence Committee colleague Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., also said he wasn’t aware of it.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130814/01083324168/senate-intelligence-committee-has-been-able-to-challenge-classification-documents-forty-years-it-just-has-never-done-it.shtml

[Rex]

5. So who the fuck is running Congress?

Sounds like a lot of people that are completely ignornant of their job! All this "I knew nothing at the time" bullshit is wearing thin.

[ProSense]

7. Maybe it's all kabuki theater. n/t

[Rex]

10. Yeah finally I think you see the light.

Or maybe you already knew Congress was a scripted act.

[FarCenter]

6. While members may be "NSA friendly" they are chosen by their parties' leadership.

[David Krout]

9. I knew that nt

[mick063]

8. Political extortion is a real problem now.

Few people are entirely squeaky clean for an entire lifetime.

It doesn't even have to apply to breaking the law. Just saying something that is political poison, thought to be "off the record".

Instead of buying politicians, they can be coerced instead.

Much cheaper.