From ABC News, 8/10/07:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/08/are-gop-leaders.html
Are GOP Leaders Leaking State Secrets?
Justin Rood Reports:
For the second time in as many weeks, a senior House Republican may
have divulged classified information in the media.
In an opinion article published in the New York Post Thursday, Rep.
Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., reported the top-secret budget for human
spying had decreased -- the type of detail normally kept under wraps
for national security reasons.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08092007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/intel__terror__dems_in_denial_opedcolumnists_peter_hoekstra.htm
"The 2008 Intelligence Authorization bill cut human-intelligence
programs," Hoekstra wrote in the piece, in which he also criticized
"leaks to the news media."
Formerly the chairman of the intelligence committee, Hoekstra is now
its highest ranking Republican.
In its recent budget authorizations, that committee kept from public
view all figures and most discussion of spending on such classified
items as human spying.
Hoekstra's apparent slip was first noted on the liberal Web site, Raw
Story.
"If Mr. Hoekstra wants to break ranks and disclose that information,
that's fine with me," said Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy
expert who has long pushed to declassify overall spending on
intelligence.
"But it is the sort of thing he has harshly criticized in the past."
Indeed, Hoekstra's penchant for openness appears to be selective.
He has aggressively attacked unnamed opponents guilty of such leaking,
accusing them of "recklessly and illegally" disclosing secrets "for
political or other motives" in reports published by his committee.
He's even exacted punishment for suspected transgressions.
Last October, Hoekstra stripped the credentials of a Democratic
committee aide he believed may have leaked a then-classified document
to The New York Times.
A month later, he quietly reinstated the aide's access.
Hoekstra spokesman Jamal Ware said his boss' op-ed discussed the
spending without disclosing the underlying classified information.
"“This is a partisan push being made by Democrats and their
surrogates...there's nothing there," he said. Ware added that he
himself had used similar language in a May press release, which stated
the intelligence spending bill "cuts human intelligence programs."
Secrets are apparently hard to keep these days.
On July 31, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, allegedly
disclosed a secret court ruling during a television interview with Fox
News' Neil Cavuto.
"There's been a ruling, over the last four or five months, that
prohibits the ability of our intelligence services and our
counterintelligence people from listening in to two terrorists in
other parts of the world where the communication could come through
the United States," Boehner said.
Government officials have since confirmed to reporters that Boehner
was discussing classified information, although the GOP leader denies
it.
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So, Gonzo, when are they goin' to jail?
Harry
.
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