tsai3904
10-18-2013, 11:45 AM
House panel nixes Grayson's request for Syria intelligence
In a highly unusual move, the House Intelligence Committee voted this week to deny an outspoken Florida lawmaker access to classified information supporting President Barack Obama’s call for a military strike in Syria.
The committee’s decision Wednesday to deny the sensitive materials to Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) was driven in part by a heated House floor speech he gave in June (text/video) in which he displayed and discussed a “top secret” PowerPoint presentation National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked to the Guardian and the Washington Post, a Hill staffer familiar with the situation said.
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The panel members present at the meeting voted unanimously to deny Grayson access to some of the information he was seeking, according to a tally reviewed by POLITICO. Other records were denied to him on a 14-1 vote, with Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) the sole dissenter, the tally shows.
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“They said, ‘No,’” Grayson said Thursday. “It’s fundamentally wrong that members of the intelligence committee have information and they’re keeping other members of Congress from having access to it…There’s no legitimate reason to distinguish between what one member of Congress has access to and what another member has access to. We are all equal under the Constitution.”
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A spokeswoman for the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, confirmed the denial of Grayson’s requests. However, she said a key factor was the mootness of the Syria debate at the moment, given Obama’s decision to proceed with diplomatic efforts to strip Syria of its chemical weapons and his withdrawal of the call for Congressional approval of military action.
“Mr. Grayson's requests for classified details about Syria are now not relevant to any vote that Congress has pending before it,” Ruupersberger spokeswoman Allison Getty said in a statement. “In addition, much information has now been and will be made public as diplomatic options became available. Should future votes on this issue or others arise, every effort is made to make relevant classified information available for Members to make informed decisions.”
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More:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/10/house-panel-nixes-graysons-request-for-syria-intelligence-175396.html
At the October 16 hearing, the committee voted to provide other Members access to classified documents. Only Grayson was denied.
http://intelligence.house.gov/sites/intelligence.house.gov/files/documents/NoticeCommitteeVotes16October2013.pdf
In a highly unusual move, the House Intelligence Committee voted this week to deny an outspoken Florida lawmaker access to classified information supporting President Barack Obama’s call for a military strike in Syria.
The committee’s decision Wednesday to deny the sensitive materials to Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) was driven in part by a heated House floor speech he gave in June (text/video) in which he displayed and discussed a “top secret” PowerPoint presentation National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked to the Guardian and the Washington Post, a Hill staffer familiar with the situation said.
...
The panel members present at the meeting voted unanimously to deny Grayson access to some of the information he was seeking, according to a tally reviewed by POLITICO. Other records were denied to him on a 14-1 vote, with Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) the sole dissenter, the tally shows.
...
“They said, ‘No,’” Grayson said Thursday. “It’s fundamentally wrong that members of the intelligence committee have information and they’re keeping other members of Congress from having access to it…There’s no legitimate reason to distinguish between what one member of Congress has access to and what another member has access to. We are all equal under the Constitution.”
...
A spokeswoman for the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, confirmed the denial of Grayson’s requests. However, she said a key factor was the mootness of the Syria debate at the moment, given Obama’s decision to proceed with diplomatic efforts to strip Syria of its chemical weapons and his withdrawal of the call for Congressional approval of military action.
“Mr. Grayson's requests for classified details about Syria are now not relevant to any vote that Congress has pending before it,” Ruupersberger spokeswoman Allison Getty said in a statement. “In addition, much information has now been and will be made public as diplomatic options became available. Should future votes on this issue or others arise, every effort is made to make relevant classified information available for Members to make informed decisions.”
...
More:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/10/house-panel-nixes-graysons-request-for-syria-intelligence-175396.html
At the October 16 hearing, the committee voted to provide other Members access to classified documents. Only Grayson was denied.
http://intelligence.house.gov/sites/intelligence.house.gov/files/documents/NoticeCommitteeVotes16October2013.pdf