Issa proposes polygraphs for CIA-briefed lawmakers

[babylonsister]

Issa proposes polygraphs for CIA-briefed lawmakers
By Susan Crabtree
Posted: 07/09/09 02:32 PM


Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wants fellow lawmakers who receive classified CIA briefings to submit to polygraph tests.

“We should have a very high standard for those who are briefed by CIA — to make sure the information isn’t compromised and {lawmakers} who are briefed are telling the truth about what they’ve been told,” he said. “Fact-finding and oversight is only as good as the group of people able to do it.”

Issa’s comments come amid a renewed controversy about whether the CIA misled Congress for years. Seven Democrats on the Intelligence Committee sent a letter to CIA Director Leon Panetta asking him to publicly admit that his agency misled Congress. The letter followed classified closed-door testimony in which the Democrats said Panetta privately told the panel that the agency had not always been completely forthcoming.

The latest uproar follows turmoil over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) assertions more than a month ago that the CIA had lied to Congress for years about its enhanced interrogation techniques. Pelosi spent weeks trying to tamp down the outrage over her charges and the political fallout that ensued.

Issa said he first believed all members of Congress with oversight over the CIA should submit to polygraph tests during former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham’s (R-Calif.) bribery scandal that ultimately landed him in jail. Issa, the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, won a seat on the Intelligence panel after Cunningham resigned his seat in Congress and pleaded guilty to taking $2 million in bribes in a criminal conspiracy involving at least three defense contractors.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the ranking member on Intelligence, quickly shot down the idea of forcing members to submit to polygraph tests, arguing that constitutional separation-of-powers protections would prevent the FBI or the CIA from administering the test to federal lawmakers. Hoesktra, an outspoken defender of the agency, had spent weeks hammering Pelosi over her charges that the CIA lied in its congressional briefings.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/issa-proposes-polygraphs-for-cia-briefed-lawmakers-2009-07-09.html

[tritsofme]

1. Aside from whatever point he was trying to make

Do you really think that a politician, let alone a US congressman couldn't fool a lie detector?

This is the livelihood of these folks we are talking about, they are professionals.

[Ilsa]

2. Seems to me that it's the CIA "briefers" that need to be polygraphed. nt

[csziggy]

4. +1

[wryter2000]

3. Wryter2000 proposes an MRI for Issa's brain

There seems to be something missing inside his cranium.