Senate Intelligence Committee Oversight of CIA: It Would Be a Good Idea

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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/02/14-0


Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., right, welcomes CIA Director nominee John Brennan on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013, prior to the start of Brennan's confirmation hearing before the committee. (Photo: AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

***SNIP

Now, you might think, that's a pretty arrogant claim, saying that the Senate Intelligence Committee has been asleep at the switch. Here, therefore, are three pieces of evidence for the claim.

Exhibit A: No public hearings.

Reporting on the Senate Intelligence Committee's confirmation hearing of John Brennan to head the CIA, Ken Dilanian of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the Senate Intelligence Committee

has not held a single public hearing on CIA drone strikes that have killed an estimated 3,000 suspected militants in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia in the last four years.
Exhibit B: Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, apparently isn't aware of New York Times reporting on the drone strike policy.

Following Brennan's confirmation hearing, Politico reported Sen. Feinstein as saying that

she was unaware of reports that in some instances U.S. officials assumed any male of fighting age killed in a strike was a combatant - a method that could undercount the number of civilian deaths.