Bush's watchdog for intelligence kept quiet for 5 1/2 years

[sabra]

Source: SF Chronicle/WP

(07-15) 04:00 PDT Washington -- An independent oversight board created to identify intelligence abuses after the CIA scandals of the 1970s did not send any reports to the attorney general of legal violations during the first 5 1/2 years of the Bush administration's counterterrorism effort, the Justice Department has told Congress.

Although the FBI told the board of a few hundred legal or rules violations by its own agents after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the board did not identify which of them were indeed legal violations. This spring, it forwarded reports of violations in 2006, officials said.

The President's Intelligence Oversight Board -- the principal civilian watchdog of the intelligence community -- is obligated under a 26-year-old executive order to tell the attorney general and the president about any intelligence activities it believes "may be unlawful." The board was vacant for the first two years of the Bush administration.

The FBI sent copies of its violation reports directly to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. But the board's mandate was to provide independent oversight, so the absence of such communications has led critics to question whether the board was doing its job.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/07/15/MNG1HR0SVI1.DTL&type=politics

[grytpype]

1. It's the PRESIDENT'S watchdog, so of course it didn't bark!

:eyes:

[Frustratedlady]

2. We'll probably never know, but it would be interesting to know

how many political opponents are on those lists. Just sayin'.

[kurth]

3. Dereliction of duty

or more likely, obstruction of justice.

[formercia]

4. The Three Wise Monkeys