U.S. Democrats Are Claiming the C.I.A. Deceived Congress

U.S. House Democrats are accusing the C.I.A. of misleading and deceiving Congress on their interrogation briefings to the House Intelligence Committee.

Democrats in the United States House of Representatives are accusing senior officials within the Central Intelligence Agency of misleading and deceiving Congress but many Republicans are responding that these allegations are just trying to protect Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Letters by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Silvestre Reyes and other members of the board have said that CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress last month that senior CIA officials, since 2001, have “concealed significant actions and misled lawmakers.” However, specific actions are unclear at the present time but Mr. Reyes has accused the CIA of just lying in one case. “These notifications have led me to conclude that this committee has been misled, has not been provided full and complete notifications, and (in at least one case) was affirmatively lied to,” said the chairman in a letter to Michigan Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra. CIA spokesman George Little replied to the assertions, “It is not the policy or practice of the CIA to mislead Congress. This agency and this director believe it is vital to keep the Congress fully and currently informed. Director Panetta's actions back that up. It was the CIA itself that took the initiative to notify the oversight committees.” The CIA forwarded a chart to legislators in May that described the forty Congressional briefings on enhanced interrogation techniques but the documents sent had several errors, which leaves out exactly what was told to the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In a statement on Wednesday, spokesman for the Republicans Jamal Ware said, “The blatantly political nature of the Democrats' letters is revealed by their handling.” The Intelligence Authorization bill has two main oppositions: House Republicans and the White House. Pres. Obama’s aides have said they would veto any bill if it included any Democratic-written stipulation that would require Pres. Obama to “notify the intelligence committees in their entirety about covert CIA activities.”