Does Congress have access to the same intelligence the President does?

[RememberTheCoup]

How does it work? Does the whole Congress have access to the same classified info the President does? Is it only a select committee? Is it only what the President chooses to share with Congress? Also, is classified info from all bodies (CIA, NSA, even FBI and Dept. of Homeland Security) treated the same way? Anyone want to provide a primer on how it all works?

[RoeBear]

1. Before someone makes a serious reply...

...are you saying that Bush has access to intelligence? I wasn't aware of that before. :D

[RememberTheCoup]

2. I knew I made it too easy (nt)

;)

[RememberTheCoup]

3. Maybe matcom has some insight here?

I'm also wondering if intelligence agancies ever keep info from even the President. I doubt they'd legally be allowed to but...

[RememberTheCoup]

4. Oh, come on...

Someone must know something about this! :shrug: Even a link would be helpful.

[bacchant]

5. Yeah

They had access to the same trumped-up-cherry-picked intelligence I imagine.

[RememberTheCoup]

6. If it's "cherry-picked"...

Do you mean that they only saw what the administration wanted them to see? Can a member of Congress get intelligence not "cherry-picked" by the executive branch? I'm not just interested in Iraq, I'm wondering in more general terms. I know former presidents can request security briefings. Do they have access to intelligence that Congress does not?

[RememberTheCoup]

7. one more plea for enlightenment... (nt)

:kick:

[arewethereyet]

8. OK heres the deal

Firstly: does the president have access to "all the intel". Yes. Does he avail himself of it ? No. He has a staff to distill this information and be able to answer detail questions regarding the summary they provide him.

Secondly: Does COngress have access to the intel ? No. There are a handfull who ARE given access to sometimes all and more often most of what the president gets. It used to be more but Congress was caught too often leaking information and can no longer be trusted. Those folks are also permitted to ask and expect answers.

I think that about covers it in nutshell fashion.

[RememberTheCoup]

9. Thanks, AWTY!

I wonder, though, how Congress can be expected to make decisions without the same information the President gets? Seems like bad policy. Is it the "Intelligence" committee that (I believe) Kerry is on that gets the classified info?

[chimpy the poopthrower]

10. NSA or NSC?

NSC is the National Security Council, right? That Rice heads up. NSA is what just passed, that some are calling "the draft"?

[freestatevet]

13. No. The NSA

is the National Security Agency. Part of the DOD, headquartered at Fort Meade, MD.

[dennis4868]

11. Not in this case....

The NIE that was released to congress in October 2002 did not include cavaets and qualifiers and the fact that entire agencies disagreed with the NIE that Iraq had WMD. However, after the war the WH released the full NIE to congress that included the cavaets and qualifiers and mentioned entire agencies (DIA, DOS, DOE, Army) that did not believe that Saddam was a threat of any kind. So yes Congress saw the NIE but not the entire report like Bush saw back in October 2002. No one in the media mentions this fact....just read the Carnegie report.

[peekaloo]

12. Bill Nelson's got some more 'splainin' to do!

http://www.why-war.com/news/2003/12/15/senators.html

----------
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday the Bush administration last year told him and other senators that Iraq not only had weapons of mass destruction, but they had the means to deliver them to East Coast cities.

Nelson, D-Tallahassee, said about 75 senators got that news during a classified briefing before last October's congressional vote authorizing the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Nelson voted in favor of using military force.

Nelson said he couldn't reveal who in the administration gave the briefing.
---------------

[waywest]

14. the capacity is different.

mostly

[freestatevet]

15. What capacity?

What do you mean by "the capacity is different?"

[mac2]

16. Intelligence known by Congress?

George Tenet stated (as the side of his mouth went way up) that he meets and informs the President four times a week or so. He didn't mention "informing" Congressional leaders. Hear his testimony on CSPAN this last week. Link: http://www.c-span.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=George+Tenet

Even Bush's own party leaders aren't informed...it is all secret. Remember on 9/11 when our Congressional leaders where taken away and uninformed of what was going on?

Yes..this violates the Constitutional powers of the Congress. Bush is not king. It is a dangerous practice to give one man all that power. In Bush's case...all the Neo Cons (unelected officals such as Perle, Rove, etc.) have more information than Congressional leaders.

Congress who represents the people the most...are powerless...therefore the people are powerless.

Bush's leadership is like that of a king and very unconstitutional. When is Congress going to protect our Constitution and Bill of Rights?