Administration To Brief Lawmakers On Secret Syria Intelligence

[Purveyor]

By Julian Pecquet - 08/28/13 06:39 PM ET

The Obama administration is expected to brief key lawmakers Thursday on the secret intelligence underpinning its firm conviction that Bashar Assad's forces attacked rebels with chemical weapons last week.

The chairmen and ranking members on key Senate and House committees – armed services, foreign affairs and intelligence – are scheduled to participate in a conference call Thursday with senior administration officials, Yahoo News reports. The State Department has said it would share classified information with Congress before making unclassified details available to the public “sometime this week.”

The congressional briefing is likely to focus on intercepted communications between Syrian military leaders on the day of the alleged poison gas attack that rebels say killed more than 1,000 people in the Damascus suburbs last Wednesday. Foreign Policy reported Tuesday that the U.S. intelligence services intercepted a panicked call between the Syrian Ministry of Defense and a chemical weapons unit shortly after the attack, convincing the administration of the Assad regime's culpability – while raising questions about whether a rogue unit might have been to blame.

--CLIP
More than 100 House members wrote to Obama on Wednesday demanding a congressional authorization. And House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote to the president urging him to make the case for military action to Congress and the American people.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/319293-obama-administration-to-brief-key-lawmakers-on-secret-syria-intelligence#ixzz2dJL1bk00
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[David__77]

1. If it's a rogue unit, is the solution to attack central command and control?

Wouldn't that further fragment the capability of the central authorities to exercise control of how weapons are deployed? It makes no sense, and I hope that whoever is hearing this "secret information" has the sense to ask the important questions and demand good answers.

Further, why is this being kept from us, you know, the people who pay for all this, both in money and lives? If it is revealed that communications were intercepted, then the lid on that is blown anyway. Reveal the communications! They won't, because it will lessen and not bolster the case for further degrading command and control, or even cast doubt as to who is responsible (state vs. non-state actors).