On last September 10, the No Such Agency guys taped a cell phone
call (or two) that went from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia. When they
were translated — on September 12 — they contained, among others,
the words, “zero hour is tomorrow,” and “the big match is
tomorrow.” Had they been translated the day they were recorded, it
is still unlikely that we would have been able to prevent the 9-11
attacks. Standing alone, they don’t mean much. The real importance
of these intercepts is not what they contained, but what people
have done with them. The fact that the information was passed to
the congressional intelligence committees, and then leaked to the
media, means that someone should be going to jail for revealing
sensitive intelligence information that may have compromised the
key assets of our intelligence community.
When the intel guys hear about a leak, there are varying degrees
of reaction. If you leak the location of George Tenet’s favorite
Chinese restaurant, you can expect a nasty phone call. From a
restaurant critic. But if you reveal information that tells the bad
guys how we got information, or from whom, you endanger people’s
lives, and may give the bad guys the ability to avoid being
listened to. In this case, it’s probable that the leak did
compromise a source, or a particular method. It’s serious
stuff.
You can tell how serious by the reaction. Most of the people in
Fort Fumble and the CIA are pretty used to congressional leaks. As
one friend told me recently, after taking the fifteen minute ride
back to the Pentagon after giving a classified briefing, he often
was greeted by a CNN story that spilled all or most of the beans.
This time, Vice President Cheney was on the phone to the
congressional committees on June 20, the day after the leak,
raising holy hell about it. As well he should have.
By the time the leak occurred, the congressional investigations
of intelligence agency failures that led to 9-11 were already
underway. But when Congress promised to investigate the leaks, it
quickly became obvious that it lacked any serious means of
investigating itself. So congressional leaders asked the FBI to
investigate. At that point we had the Congress investigating the
FBI and the CIA and the FBI investigating the Congress. This past
week Congress changed its mind because of the Separation of Powers
doctrine in the U.S. Constitution, which provides the excuse for
senators and congressmen — and their staffs — to dodge what might
be found in some inconvenient polygraph tests. At this point Saddam
and OBL must be laughing so hard they probably wet their pants more
than usual.
There is nothing in the Constitution that prevents one branch of
government from investigating another. Congress has oversight
duties that lead it to investigate almost everything executive
agencies do. If a member of Congress has violated the law by
leaking classified information, the FBI has every right to
investigate. No, I take that back. It has the duty to do so.
At this point, while the congressbeings may have dodged the
polygraph tests for now, the investigation continues. In this
week’s “Washington Whispers” pages of U.S. News & World
Report, Paul Bedard
reports that investigators have focused on three members of
Congress, one of whom is Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the
ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Shelby is
believed to have spoken to a CNN reporter at about the time the
leak occurred. According to Bedard’s report, Shelby’s spokesman
denied it. It is very possible that the investigators are chasing
the wrong guy. When things like this happen, people tend to point
investigators at their enemies, and that may be all that is going
on with Shelby. But the investigators may also be right on the
money with him and the other two whose names have not yet been
leaked by the investigators.
Shelby and the others should come forward immediately and
volunteer to take an FBI polygraph test to clear their names.
Congressional prerogatives may be preserved by submitting
voluntarily, and by having the tests made off congressional turf.
No invasion of the Capitol is necessary or appropriate. If Shelby
isn’t cleared, he should be investigated thoroughly and prosecuted
to the full extent of the law if investigators find enough evidence
to make a solid case. Other implicated members of Congress and
their staffs — also a likely source of leaks — should be invited
to take the tests.
If any member of Congress or staffer refuses to take the test —
and obviously if they fail it — their security clearance must be
canceled immediately. If further investigation shows that it is
likely that a criminal act occurred, we have to throw the book at
whoever is the likely culprit. If a member of Congress leaked the
information, his congressional immunity may bar prosecution for the
act. Should the Justice Department determine that the immunity
prevents prosecution, Congress should expel the senators or
congressmen guilty of the leak. Their names should be made public.
Anyone who would release classified information such as this is
unfit to be a member of Congress.
While all this is going on, there’s another action item that
should be attended to. The No Such Agency guys should talk to the
Spec Ops crowd about who was on the Saudi end of those phone calls.
A couple of Delta guys ought to pay them an unannounced visit some
night very soon.
