TITLE: POLITICIZING THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE
SPEAKER: Mr. FRIST; Mr. WARNER; Mr. BOND; Mr. CHAMBLISS; Mr. ROBERTS; Mr. KYL; Mr. REID
Mr. FRIST . Mr. President, I want to spend the next several minutes commenting on a matter that I regard, as majority leader of this body, to be one that is very serious. As is the case with a number of my colleagues, in fact, most of the U.S. Senators, we have been given the opportunity to reflect on the publication of a very disturbing internal memorandum, a memorandum that lays out a blatant, partisan strategy to use the Senate Intelligence Committee to politically wound the President of the United States.
That is unacceptable. There is really no other way to read this memo. I am deeply disappointed that anyone -- that anyone --would have a plan to so politicize the Intelligence Committee of the U.S. Senate, to render it incapable of meeting its responsibilities to this institution, to the U.S. Senate, and, indeed, to the American people.
Moreover -- I had hesitated to come to the floor to address this directly, but now is the time to do that -- the response by those behind this memo has been miserably inadequate, has been disappointing, and has been disturbing.
We are at a time of peril in our Nation's history. As our intelligence agencies and our Armed Forces in the Middle East are at war against our mortal enemies, those responsible for this memo appear to be -- and anybody can read this memo. It is available now. The copy I have here is actually on the FOXNews Web site. But if you read it, those responsible for this memo appear to be more focused on winning the White House for their party than on winning the war against terror.
Those priorities are wrong. They are dead wrong.
As majority leader of the U.S. Senate, as one responsible for preserving the integrity of this institution and the direction of this institution, it is incumbent upon me to make sure we address this matter properly, appropriately, and adequately.
In the aftermath of the war in Iraq, the failure thus far to find deployed weapons of mass destruction is a legitimate matter for inquiry by this body, this institution, for our colleagues. After all, for nearly 10 years -- throughout the 8-year tenure of President Clinton and the first 2 years of President Bush -- the U.S. Congress and the White House were given a steady flow of information by the intelligence community that suggested such weapons did exist.
In fact, it was this information that precipitated, in 1998, the U.S. military attack Operation Desert Fox, ordered by President Clinton at that time, and, in part, Operation Iraqi Freedom, ordered by President Bush in 2003.
Thus, if there is incomplete or imprecise information that had been provided to President Clinton or President Bush and the U.S. Congress over a 10-year period, the intelligence community should be asked to explain. That is what the Intelligence Committee is expected to do; it is really charged by this body to do; and that is exactly -- that is exactly -- what Senator Roberts, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, set out to do.
Last spring, Senator Roberts, as chairman of the Intelligence Committee, made a commitment, jointly with Senator Rockefeller, to conduct a thorough review of U.S. intelligence on the existence of and the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs.
The review was also intended to cover Iraq's ties to terrorist groups, Saddam Hussein's threat to stability and security in the region, and his violations of human rights, including the demonstrated actual use of weapons of mass destruction; namely, chemical weapons against his own people.
The review was intended to examine the quantity of information, the quality of U.S. intelligence, the objectivity, the independence, the accuracy of the judgments reached by the intelligence community, whether or not those judgments were properly disseminated to policymakers in the executive branch, as well as to this body and the Congress, and whether any influence was brought to bear on anyone to shape the analysis to support policy objectives.
Thus, that was the initial charge and what, in fact, has occurred over the past 5 months. The Intelligence Committee staff has reviewed thousands of documents. It has interviewed over 100 individuals, including private citizens and analysts and senior officials with the Central Intelligence Agency, with the National Security Council, with the Defense Intelligence Agency, with the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and even the United Nations. [*S14255]
It is indisputable the chairman of that Intelligence Committee, Senator Roberts, has complied in good faith with the nonpartisan -- the nonpartisan -- commitment which he made to his Democratic colleagues. Most recently, this nonpartisan commitment was manifest, once again, in a series of very direct, no-nonsense letters directed to the administration, demanding the immediate production of documents and interviews necessary to move the Iraq review forward.
Senator Rockefeller, himself, formally recognized, on the floor of the Senate, the fundamental good work performed thus far when, on November 5, he stated on this floor, and I quote:
I have been vocal in my appreciation of the absolutely excellent job done to date by the staff on the aspects of the investigation they have been asked to perform, which is reviewing the prewar Iraqi intelligence. They have done a superb job, absolutely superb job.
The words of Senator Rockefeller.
The chairman of the committee, Senator Roberts, has acted with the utmost attention to that nonpartisan tradition of this critically important Intelligence Committee. That nonpartisan tradition -- and it is unusual to have nonpartisan traditions in this body -- but it has always been preserved, for good reason, in that Intelligence Committee.
The tradition is reflected in the committee's founding resolution, S. Res. 400, enacted in 1976, as a result of nationwide concerns at that time about intelligence activities in earlier years. The committee's nonpartisan tradition has been carefully cultivated and respected over time, over all these years, by its members. The tradition is part and parcel of the committee's rules, which extend the prerogatives of the minority, that are not found in any other committee in this body.
For a quarter century there has been a consensus in the Senate that the committee's nonpartisan tradition must be carefully safeguarded. Nothing less is acceptable. Why? Because this committee deals with information that is unique, that is privileged information, because of the dangerous and sensitive nature of the subject matter for which the Intelligence Committee, this committee, has unique oversight.
I come to the floor because that critical tradition has now been willfully attacked.
How can I say that? By this memo. You read the memo. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has been harmed by a blatant partisan attack. I have no earthly idea who wrote this memo. I do know why. I don't know who it was intended for, but I do know why. If you read the memo, you can look. It is a sequence of steps spelled out. The sequence of steps proposed in this partisan battle plan for the committee itself is without question intended to sow doubt, to abuse the fairness of the committee chairman, Senator Pat Roberts, to undermine the standing of the Commander in Chief at a time of war, and to launch a partisan investigation through next year to continue into the elections.
The memo lays clear that over the past several months there has been a partisan design at work "to pull along the majority." According to the memo, the good will, the sense of fairness, the nonpartisan approach of the chairman of the committee, Senator Roberts, is still seen as providing ample "opportunity to usefully collaborate" in attacking the President of the United States. That is an abuse of the chairman of that very committee. This whole idea of leading that chairman or the committee along is simply unacceptable and out of the spirit of this committee. Again, it is something we simply cannot tolerate.
Finally, in the memo the author proposes that once the committee can be duped no longer, a partisan core of Senators can "pull the trigger" on another investigation.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence simply cannot function. Worse than that, it cannot fulfill its purpose for us without a complete understanding of what is at work in this matter. I thought it would come forward over the last 48 hours, but it simply has not. That is unacceptable.
Thus I suggest we take the following three steps. First, I don't know who wrote this memo, but as majority leader of the Senate, I do ask the author or authors to step forward, to identify himself or herself or, if there are several people, to stand up with that information for the full Senate. We would be much better equipped to understand the level of intent behind this partisan strategy as well as the depth of the problem within the committee itself.
It is necessary to know who the memo was intended to go to, who was to receive that memo. It was obviously written as a strategy. Who was that memo to be delivered to? Was it intended for political purposes beyond what is permitted in the Senate rules? Second, it is reasonable to expect, I think -- in fact, I know -- that the author or authors and the designated recipient or recipients disavow once and for all this partisan attack in its entirety. It is hard to believe this disavowal has not come forward given what is at stake. The Senate cannot permit a committee chairman with the integrity of Senator Pat Roberts to be subjected to such abuse. The Senate as an institution should not permit a committee upon which all of us are so dependent -- because of its privileged status with access to information, we are dependent on that committee to make decisions -- to be so misused or potentially misused for partisan purposes.
Third, I expect there to be a personal apology to the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Roberts, for the manipulative tone and the injurious content of this document. Senator Roberts is one of this body's most distinguished Members. He is a friend. He is a trustedcolleague. He served in this body for 7 years, rising to that position of trust as chairman of one of the Senate's most respected, most important, most critical committees, especially at this time of war. Senator Roberts, with his straight-talking manner, has the complete trust of colleagues on both sides of the aisle. He served this Nation in uniform, in the Marine Corps, in the House of Representatives. His integrity is unimpeachable. He is doing an outstanding job as chairman of the Intelligence Committee.
But only with the fulfillment of the three steps I outlined -- No. 1, who wrote it and who was the intended recipient; No. 2, a total disavowal of the writing of this and, more importantly, the intent of this memo; and No. 3, an apology to the chairman -- will it be possible for this important committee to resume its work in an effective manner, in a bipartisan manner, a manner that is deserving of the confidence of 100 Members in the Senate as well as the confidence of the executive branch.
In light of this partisan attack, Chairman Roberts and I have taken the opportunity to discuss the scope of the unfinished work on the review of the prewar intelligence in Iraq. It is our view that the committee's review is nearly complete. Together we have called upon the administration to provide the remaining requested materials. We have jointly determined that the committee can and will complete its review this year.
To the authors of this memo, there will be no more pulling along and no more useful collaboration on partisan schemes, borrowing from the malicious intent of this memo.
This must be addressed forthrightly. I call upon my colleagues to pay attention to this memo. It is something we can resolve and we must resolve over the coming days.
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