CNN's Ensor suggested Rockefeller was disingenuous in criticism of administration briefings on domestic spying program
SUMMARY: CNN national security correspondent David Ensor suggested that Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV was disingenuous in his criticism of the Bush administration's apparent failure to fully inform Congress about its warrantless domestic surveillance program because he had been briefed on the program in 2003. But Ensor failed to note that, immediately after being briefed, Rockefeller wrote a letter to Vice President Dick Cheney expressing strong reservations about the program and restrictions on information he needed to evaluate it.
In a report on the Senate Intelligence Committee's February 2 hearing on national security threats, CNN national security correspondent David Ensor aired a clip of Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), the ranking Democrat on the committee, criticizing the Bush administration's apparent failure to fully inform Congress about its warrantless domestic surveillance program. Ensor then said, "[I]n fact, Rockefeller was one of the few who were briefed," suggesting that Rockefeller's criticism at the hearing was disingenuous. Notably absent from Ensor's report was any indication that after learning of the surveillance program in July 2003, Rockefeller wrote a letter -- by hand, to prevent the potential disclosure of classified information to his staff -- to Vice President Dick Cheney that expressed strong reservations over "the activities we discussed" and concern over Congress' ability to exercise oversight and his own ability to evaluate the program.
From the February 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
ENSOR: The spy chiefs faced a barrage of pointed questions from Intelligence Committee Democrats angered by the president's National Security Agency domestic [NSA] surveillance program and the fact that most of them were never briefed about it.
ROCKEFELLER [video clip]: This rationale for withholding information from Congress is flat-out unacceptable and nothing more than political smoke.
ENSOR: But, in fact, Rockefeller was one of the few who were briefed. Director of Nation Intelligence John Negroponte stressed that the NSA carefully reviews and minimizes any information collected on Americans.
Ensor's suggestion that Rockefeller was hiding the fact that he was one of the few lawmakers who were briefed ignores what actually happened. Ensor made no mention of a letter dated July 17, 2003 -- the day of his classified briefing -- in which Rockefeller expressed concerns not only about President Bush's authorization of the NSA to eavesdrop on the international communications of U.S. residents, but also about the amount of information disclosed in the briefing. In a handwritten letter to Cheney, Rockefeller wrote:
Clearly, the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues. As you know, I am neither a technician, nor an attorney. Given the security restrictions associated with this information, and my inability to consult staff or counsel on my own, I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse these activities.
[...]
Without more information and the ability to draw on independent legal or technical expertise, I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns raised by the briefing we received.
Rockefeller is not the only senator briefed on the program who has criticized the Bush administration's repeated claim that Congress had adequate information about the NSA program. For example, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) said there were "omissions of consequence" in the briefings he received in 2002 and 2004, according to an article in the January 9 issue of Newsweek:
"The presentation was quite different from what is now being reported in the press. I would argue that there were omissions of consequence." At his briefing in the White House Situation Room, Daschle was forbidden to take notes, bring staff or speak with anyone about what he had been told. "You're so disadvantaged," Daschle says. "They know so much more than you do. You don't even know what questions to ask."
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, have also said that they did not receive a complete accounting of the program. And former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time the program was created, has claimed that he was never informed "that the program would involve eavesdropping on American citizens," as The New York Times reported on December 21.
reporting may just is not be what it used to be.
Ensor just doesn't seem to understnad, or he didn't do his research. Randi Rhodes played a longer clip from the senate hearings yesterday that put it all into context. Rockafeller was complaining that the administration was only briefing a few members of congress, stipulating that they may not discuss details or take any notes on the briefings. All the while, Bush, Cheney, Rove, Gonzo, Rummy, &Co. are traipsing around the country making their case to the public about how "if al queda is calling into the U.S., we wannna know about it."
Rockafeller disagreed that they were waging a PR campaign of misinformation while they tied the hands of anyone who actually had been told the facts.
And why was it a "barrage" of "pointed" questions from "angered" democrats? Did anyone ever teach these fools how to write without using biased language and emotionally charged words? I think they do know better and they do this stuff on purpose under somebody's orders.
Most modern-day reporters on Cable are selected to pursue these careers because of their looks when they are in college. Then they spend the bulk of their time learning the procedures, technology, and equipment they will use in the field. There does not seem to be enough emphasis on the moral contract journalists take on as essential components to democracy. Ensor is just another symptom of a widespread disease.
journalism is dead. I second that comment.
This reporter is ignorant and unwilling to research his material, and pays no attention to "current events" ... AND his editors/producers are equally ignorant.
OR, there is media bias which permeates every level of today's media; BIAS in favor of the White House spin, and BIAS AGAINST THE TRUTH.
Hint: It's the latter.
It's still dubious if the letter was actually mailed. I also find the statements by Sen.Roberts more than interesting.
- A United States Senator has significant tools with which to wield power and influence over the executive branch. Feigning helplessness is not one of those tools.
- it is my recollection that on many occasions Sen. Rockefeller expressed to the Vice President his vocal support for the program.” Roberts said he believed Rockefeller showed support for the program as recently as early December.
- If Sen. Rockefeller truly had the concerns he claimed to have had in his two-and-a-half-year-old letter, he could have pursued a number of options to have those concerns addressed...among them, Roberts noted, was taking the issue up with the other members of Congress briefed on the program.
If Rockefeller really had these dire concerns...he chose poor ways to demonstrate that fact.
isn't this what our media has become? A so called news report like this is geared towards those that have no desire to research an issue on their own. Just look at the success of right wing radio and Fox. Sadly it's about half the population. It's not by accident or "that's just the way it is" neither. Come on....he knows about the handwritten letter. But to the average viewer who is not paying attention, a report like this slips in and impressions get formed. I've noticed that the media also gives harsher criticism of democrats over republicans even though republicans are the ones who have make things so difficult for us.
It's worth noting, that 3 months and 2 days ago, Nov. 1st, 2005, was the day in which the U.S. Senate was forced into extraordinary secret proceedings, to discuss the much-delayed work of this same Senate Intelligence Committee's review and inquiry into the 'pre-war intelligence', intelligence that resulted in Operation Iraqi Freedom; a review and inquiry, not of the faultiness on the intelligence (so obvious to all), but of whether there was any intention (not so obvious to all) to mislead Congress and the People on the part of those who furnished that faulty 'pre-war intelligence'; a part of the review and inquiry otherwise known as...
Phase II
And so now we have further invocations of the bogeymen, further divisions, further arguments, and further mischaracterizations of what the principals say and do...
...without any furthering of that Committee's work on the Phase II matter of 'pre-war intelligence'.
How long do we have to labor under those who use threats of terror as a pretext of War, and of civil liberty violations...
...how long until the Senate Intelligence Committee completes Phase II of it's review and inquiry of 'pre-war intelligence'...
...how long until the minority members of that Committee, and of the entire Congress, call for the declassification of that Committee's previous work, the work of the Joint Congressional Inquiry...
The Conclusion (Part 4) of The Joint Congressional Inquiry's Report on the Attacks of 9-11.
The Truth: you can classify it, but that won't make it go away.
All during the Clinton Administration and continuing today, the "Press:" has consisted of people whose news reporting extends as far as presenting as news the press releases they are provided by the right and now by the White House.
No investigation, no context, no questions, just a recitation of todays Republican talking points.
When the sources of "truth" and "no spin" are OReilly and Limbaugh there is no need to fact check. If that were done then all that would result on their shows would be silence.
Cable News and TRUTH have absolutely nothing to do with each other. CNN's ratings determine what they are able to charge for advertising - Billables determine the truth. The Right wing has done an outstanding job of convincing the ditto heads etc. that the Main Stream Media is biased and only talk radio and Fox type cable news tells the truth. Look at the ratings - Fox News is the dominate ratings leader in Cable News ( ABC, NBC, & CBS kicks their ass every day but cable news is a different world ) Why - The right wing wack jobs go to Fox for their news and love to hear the crap and lies handed out everyday - it's feel good cable news and the TRUTH be dammed. CNN is selling their soul to captures these nut job viewers in order to increase the ad $$ revenue. CNN, once the leading force in real time hard news is now just another Cable News whore. Obermann and MSNBC are the only reasons I turn on Cable News any more.
If CNN wont tell you, allow me. Sen. Rockefeller made at least three very solid points.
One, the executive branch is required by law to inform each and every member of the committee, not just the co-chairmen, of these secret spying activities.
Two, the administration has entrusted the committee with information of a very sensitive nature (and Sen. Rockefeller gave several examples).
Three, the only leaks of that sensitive information have come from the executive branch, not the Congress.
this obviously had to be something carefully arranged to make rockefeller look bad. it's not some off the cuff remark. play the tape and let's call another democrat a liar.
Rockefeller expressed his reservations about the program to the administration and was totally ignored.
Had Rockefeller expressed those reservations to anyone else, he would have been prosecuted for leaking classified information.
Now that the program is no longer secret, Rockefeller's previous silence is taken as his tacit approval of the program.