Congressional Oversight of Intelligence Criticized

by on April 29th, 2004

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44837-2004Apr26.html

In the fall of 2002, as Congress debated waging war in Iraq, copies of a 92-page assessment of Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction sat in two vaults on Capitol Hill, each protected by armed security guards and available to any member who showed up in person, without staff.

But only a few ever did. No more than six senators and a handful of House members read beyond the five-page National Intelligence Estimate executive summary, according to several congressional aides responsible for safeguarding the classified material.

Marc C. Johnson