Security

Congress Holds Secret Cash for Syria Strike Info

Congressional oversight on the intelligence community has been snoozy, for years. But the other day, Secrecy News notes, napping lawmakers briefly woke up, to challenge the Administration. And they did it in a way that’s extremely odd. Specifically, a provision of the new FY2008 intelligence authorization bill would prohibit expenditure of certain funds for an […]

Congressional oversight on the intelligence community has been snoozy, for years. But the other day, Secrecy News notes, napping lawmakers briefly woke up, to challenge the Administration. And they did it in a way that's extremely odd.

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Specifically, a provision of the new FY2008 intelligence authorization bill would prohibit expenditure of certain funds for an unidentified classified program unless and until every member of the oversight committees is briefed on intelligence about the September 6, 2007
Israeli strike on a Syrian facility.

*See Section 328 ("Limitation on use of funds") of the Conference Report on the FY 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act completed last week... *

*A former staffer told *Secrecy News he could not remember this approach ever having been used by the intelligence committees
(though other committees have often made release of funds contingent on submission of required reports under their jurisdiction).

Anyone care to guess what the secret program is? I'm betting satellite.

ALSO:

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2007/12/intelligence_oversight_flexes_1.html