You knew it was coming. Marcy Wheelerand Greg Sargentreport that Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), the chairman of the House intelligence committee, will open an investigation into the lack of disclosure to Congress of the CIA’s “significant actions” canceled by Director Leon Panetta — and as part of that inquiry, they’ll get into what the program itself was. Reyes’s statement: After cafeful consideration and consultation with the Ranking Minority Member and other members of the Committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will conduct an investigation into possible violations of federal law, including the National Security Act of 1947.
This investigation will focus on the core issue of how the congressional intelligence committees and Congress are kept fully and currently informed. To this end, the investigation will examine several issues, including the program discussed during Director Panetta’s June 24th notification and whether there was any past decision or direction to withhold information from the Committee.