When Oversight Went Awry: Congress and Intelligence in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Congress’ intelligence oversight has gone off the rails. The legislative branch has taken its constitutional responsibilities of surveying and guiding national intelligence and instead practiced rampant partisanship. The formerly bipartisan and sober intelligence committees have become a political battleground for most of the twenty-first century, although each body will occasionally exhibit rationality and responsibility. Congress began by treating intelligence as another issue to be addressed in the context of contemporary politics. In the Trump era, intelligence itself became a central battleground, and the oversight structure was the forum for a presidential impeachment. Seen in three phases, intelligence oversight in Congress has gone from partisanship (2003–2004) to hyperpartisanship (2004–2014) to intermittent dysfunction (2017–present). This assessment considers Congress’ intelligence oversight through numerous case studies and offers positive examples for reform.

Disclosure Statement

The author received no financial assistance, has no financial stake in any policy discussed here, and no conflicts of interest.

Notes

1 John Bowden, “Nunes Declines to Answer If He Received Information from Ukraine Lawmaker Meant to Damage Biden,” Hill, 30 July 2020.

2 Luke Broadwater, “Republican-Led House Censures Schiff for Role in Trump Investigation,” New York Times, 22 June 2023, p. A16.

3 Dan Freedman, “Stefanik Doubles Down on Call for House Intel Chair to Resign,” Times Union (Albany), 1 April 2019; “HPSCI Republicans Call for New Chairman,” press release, 28 March 2019; Dartunorro Clark, “Schumer, Pelosi Call for Nunes to be Removed as House Intelligence Chair,” NBCnews.com, 1 February 2018.

4 Jennifer Haberkorn, Sarah D. Wire, and Del Quentin Wilber, “Sen. Burr Steps Aside as Intelligence Committee Chair after FBI Warrant in Stock Inquiry,” Los Angeles Times, 14 May 2020.

5 U.S. Department of Justice, “Former U.S. Senate Employee Sentenced to Prison Term on False Statements Charge,” press release, 20 December 2018, https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/former-us-senate-employee-sentenced-prison-term-false-statements-charge

6 Catie Edmondson and Karoun Demirjian, “McCarthy Ejects Schiff and Swalwell from Intelligence Committee,” New York Times, 24 January 2023.

7 Gregory C. McCarthy, “GOP Oversight of Intelligence in the Clinton Era,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2002), pp. 26–51. Seconding this view, former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, albeit an interested party, gives Congress a B + for oversight in this period in Oral History Transcript, University of Virginia Miller Center, 27 September 2019, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/richard-gephardt-oral-history

8 Marvin C. Ott, “Partisanship and the Decline of Intelligence Oversight,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2003), p. 116.

9 For a description of Congress’ oversight as “dysfunctional,” see National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report (New York: Norton, 2004), p. 420.

10 Marvin C. Ott, “Intelligence Oversight in Congress: Perilous Times,” April 2019, https://www.fpri.org/article/2019/04/intelligence-oversight-in-congress-perilous-times/

11 Bradley F. Podliska, Fire Alarm: The Investigation of the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2023), Preface.

12 Per the Intelligence Oversight Act of 1980, the big eight are both bodies’ respective party leaders and both parties’ top intelligence committee members.

13 Molly Ball, Pelosi (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2020), p. 71.

14 Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA). Interview with the author, 27 July 2022.

15 Catie Edmondson and Karoun Demirjian, “McCarthy Ousts Schiff and Swalwell from Intelligence Committee,” New York Times, 25 January 2023, p. A19.

16 Quigley said, “I heard it second or third hand. It’s disappointing.” Quoted in Nicholas Wu, “House Dem Laments ‘Friendly Fire’ After Losing a Plum Panel Seat,” Politico.com, 1 February 2023.

17 Quoted in Ball, Pelosi, p. 158.

18 Steve Kornacki, “The Steep Price of Crossing Nancy Pelosi; Jane Harman Is Finally Leaving Congress, Six Years After Pelosi Started Making Her Life Miserable,” Salon.com, 8 February 2011.

19 E. J. Dionne, Jr., “From Now On, Pelosi Is Playing Hardball,” Washington Post, 22 April 2020; Jill Filipovic,“Nancy Pelosi: A Study in Power,” Washington Post, 20 April 2021; Lloyd Grove, “Nancy Pelosi’s Brass Knuckles,” dailybeast.com, 7 September 2012; Amber Phillips, “Why Nancy Pelosi Is Being Heralded as ‘Masterful,’” Washington Post, 25 August 2021. See Ruth Marcus, “Pelosi’s Unintelligent Choice,” Washington Post, 1 November 2006, on diminishing the HPSCI.

20 Kate Phillips, “Pelosi to Hastings: No on Intelligence Chair,” New York Times, 28 November 2006.

21 “House Intelligence Chair Calls Al Qaeda Shi’ite,” Reuters, 12 December 2006.

22 Simmi Aujla, “Tea Party Leader Slams Boehner,” Politico, 15 December 2010.

23 John A. Boehner, On the House: A Washington Memoir (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2021), p. 20.

24 Shannon Travis, “Bachmann to Form Exploratory Committee in June, Possibly Earlier,” CNN, 24 March 2011.

25 Jack Holmes, “John Boehner Shellacked Ted Cruz in His Book. But What’s This About Michele Bachmann?” Esquire, 2 April 2021.

26 Boehner, On the House, p. 23.

27 Rep. Tom Cole. Phone interview with the author, 30 March 2018.

28 Linda Fowler, Watchdogs on the Hill: The Decline of Congressional Oversight of U.S. Foreign Relations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015), p. xv.

29 “Washington Journal,” C-SPAN, 3 February 2018, https://www.c-span.org/video/?440578-1/washington-journal-02032018

30 Jeff Stein, “Will Michele Bachmann Go Rogue on Intel Panel?” Washington Post, 3 January 2011.

31 Amy Zegart and Julie Quinn, “Congressional Intelligence Oversight: The Electoral Disconnection,” Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 26, No. 6 (2010), pp. 744–766.

32 Nomaan Merchant, “After Serving in CIA, Lawmaker Now Has Role Overseeing It,” Associated Press, 17 February 2023.

33 “Wolf Blitzer Reports,” CNN, 14 July 2004, https://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0407/14/wbr.00.html

34 Examples abound. See Michelle Cottle, “Let the Lewandowski Circus Change Congressional Hearings Forever,” New York Times, 18 September 2019, p. A26.

35 Mathew D. McCubbins and Thomas Schwartz, “Congressional Oversight Overlooked: Police Patrols versus Fire Alarms,” American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 28, No. 1 (1984), pp. 165–179.

36 Steven J. Balla and Christopher J. Deering, “Police Patrols and Fire Alarms: An Empirical Examination of the Legislative Preference for Oversight,” Congress & the Presidency, 8 February 2013, pp. 27–40.

37 David R. Mayhew, Congress: The Electoral Connection, 2nd ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004). Mayhew has long noted the predominant electoral and political bent of MCs.

38 Richard Fenno’s classic on member motivation identifies reelection, influence within the body, and good policy as the descending preoccupations of MCs over time. Richard F. Fenno, Home Style: House Members in Their Districts (New York: Longman, 2009).

39 Michael V. Hayden, The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies (New York: Penguin Press, 2018), p. 89.

40 James R. Clapper with Trey Brown, Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence (New York: Viking, 2018), p. 187.

41 “Washington Journal.”

42 NPR Interview, 6 November 2019. Vice chair is only in the SSCI; HPSCI has a ranking member.

43 Karoun Demirjian, “With Trump, Russia Probes Behind It, Polarized House Panel Looks to Heal Partisan Rifts,” Washington Post, 22 November 2020.

44 Clapper with Brown, Facts and Fears, p. 187.

45 Ibid.

46 David Ignatius, “The Loss of Rep. Mike Rogers as Head of the House Intelligence Committee Is a Blow to Bipartisanship,” Washington Post, 4 December 2014.

47 Kyle Cheney, “Partisan ‘Poison’ Infects House Panel,” Politico, 20 February 2018.

48 Brendan Bordelon, “Devin Nunes’s One-Man War on the Pentagon,” National Review, 31 July 2015.

49 Emmarie Huetteman and Michael S. Schmidt, “Devin Nunes Puts Credibility of House Panel He Leads in Doubt,” New York Times, 24 March 2017, p. A15; Ross K. Baker, “House Intel Chairman Dishonored his Post,” USA Today, 23 March 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/03/23/house-intel-chairman-nunes-dishonors-post-ross-baker-column/99537870/

50 Arnie Seipel and Brian Naylor, “No Evidence of Trump Tower Wiretap, Says Devin Nunes, House Intel Chair,” NPR.org, 15 March 2017; Greg Miller, Karoun Demirjian, and Devlin Barrett, “House Intelligence Chair Alleges Spying on Trump,” Washington Post, 22 March 2017; Karoun Demirjian and Ellen Nakashima, “Intelligence Chair Nunes Apologizes for Disclosing Surveillance Information to the White House,” Washington Post, 23 March 2017. Nunes sued the Washington Post and these reporters for defamation.

51 Adam Schiff, Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost our Democracy and Still Could (New York: Random House, 2021), p. 141.

52 Derek Hawkins and Kyle Swenson, “Adam Schiff and Devin Nunes: From ‘Bromance’ To Bitter Adversaries,” Washington Post, 1 February 2018.

53 GOP grievances began with the fallout of possible Russian influence in the 2016 campaign and continued in a controversy involving Joseph Biden’s son. See Natasha Bertrand, “Hunter Biden Story Is Russian Disinfo, Dozens of Former Intel Officials Say,” Politico, 19 October 2020; Jerry Dunleavy, “Ex-Intel Officials Silent over Letter Claiming Russian Involvement in Hunter Biden Laptop Saga,” Washington Examiner, 10 May 2021.

54 Lena Felton, “The Full Text of the Nunes Memo,” The Atlantic, 2 February 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/read-the-full-text-of-the-nunes-memo/552191/

55 “Washington Journal.”

56 Hayden, The Assault on Intelligence, p. 217; Drew Jordan, Chris Cirillo, and Sarah Kerr, “The Nunes Memo vs. the Schiff Memo,” New York Times, 2 February 2018, www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000005714132/the-nunes-memo-vs-the-schiff-memo.html?searchResultPosition=1

57 Jamie Raskin, “Rep. Raskin Questions Authority of HPSCI Chair to Materially Change Contents of Memo Committee Voted to Release before Transmitting to POTUS,” press release, 2 February 2018.

58 Andrew McCarthy (no relation), “In the Nunes Affair, Don’t Lose Sight of the Unanswered Questions,” National Review, 28 March 2017.

59 “Washington Journal.”

60 Sharon LaFraniere and Nicholas Fandos, “With Wall, House Panel’s Partisan Divisions Will Be Literal,” New York Times, 9 February 2018, p. A18.

61 Rep. Devin Nunes, “Nunes Letter Requests Schiff Deposition,” press release, 8 November 2019; Catie Edmondson, “Nunes Denounces Reports That He Met with Ukraine Official," New York Times, 25 November 2019, p. A12.

62 Olivia Beavers and Andrew Desiderio, “House Intel’s Next Top Republican Prepares a Sharp Turn from the Trump Years,” Politico, 7 January 2022.

63 Ibid.

64 Rep. Kevin McCarthy, “Leader McCarthy Appoints Congressman Michael Turner as Ranking Member of HPSCI,” press release, 30 December 2021.

65 Adversarial hearings are nearly universally aimed at the opposing party. Fowler notes GOP efforts to shield its party’s president in Watchdogs on the Hill, p. 166. Republicans are not unique. Polarization has been long noted and has been increasing for decades. For example, Christopher Hare, Keith T. Poole, and Howard Rosenthal, “Polarization in Congress has Risen Sharply. Where Is it Going Next?” Washington Post, 13 February 2014; Lilliana Mason, Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018); Drew DeSilver, “The Polarization in Today’s Congress Has Roots That Go Back Decades,” Pew Research Center, 10 March 2022, Pewresearch.org

66 Jonathan Chait, “Barr’s DOJ Secretly Went after Trump Ally’s Twitter Critic,” New York, 17 May 2021.

67 Max Greenwood, “Burr: Nunes ‘Created’ Unmasking Allegations Against Rice,” Hill, 21 July 2017.

68 “This Week,” ABC News, transcript, 27 May 2018.

69 Viewpoint expressed at multiple points in Schiff, Midnight in Washington.

70 Jonathan Martin, “Book Review: ‘Midnight in Washington,’ by Adam Schiff,” New York Times, 19 October 2021.

71 Hayden, The Assault on Intelligence, p. 249.

72 Quoted in “McCarthy Flips Back on Impeachment,” Punchbowl News, 23 November 2022.

73 Michael Kranish, “Elise Stefanik Said She Was One of the ‘Most Bipartisan’ Members of Congress. Then She Went All-In on Trump’s False Election Claims,” Washington Post, 11 May 2021.

74 Glenn Kessler, “Schiff’s False Claim His Committee Had Not Spoken to the Whistleblower,” Washington Post, 4 October 2019.

75 Morgan Rimmer, “McCarthy Officially Denies Schiff and Swalwell Seats on House Intelligence Committee,” CNN, 24 January 2023.

76 Luke Broadwater, “House Censures Adam Schiff Over His Role Investigating Trump,” New York Times, 21 June 2023.

77 “McCarthy May Regret Kicking Schiff Off House Intelligence Committee,” Editorial, Washington Post, 25 January 2023.

78 Rachel Schilke, “Pompeo Accuses Schiff of Leaking Classified Documents from Intelligence Committee,” Washington Examiner, 26 January 2023.

79 Ibid.

80 Broadwater, “Republican-Led House Censures Schiff for Role in Trump Investigation,” p. A16.

81 Jared Gans, “Schiff Fundraises Off GOP Censure Vote,” Hill, 22 June 2023.

82 “Washington Journal.”

83 Sheryl Gay Stoberg, “Pelosi Tells Trump: ‘You Have Come into My Wheelhouse,’” New York Times, 26 September 2019, p. A13.

84 Rep. Devin Nunes, “Opening Statement for Morrison and Volker Hearing on Impeachment,” press release, 19 November 2019.

85 NPR Interview, 6 November 2019.

86 Ibid.

87 Rachael Bade and Karoun Demirjian, Unchecked: The Untold Story behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Trump (New York: William Morrow, 2022).

88 Beavers and Desiderio, “House Intel’s Next Top Republican Prepares a Sharp Turn from the Trump Years.”

89 Demirjian, “With Trump, Russia Probes Behind It.”

90 EO 13491—Ensuring Lawful Interrogations, 22 January 2009.

91 Amy Zegart, Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007).

92 David Espo, “Pelosi on CIA: ‘They Mislead Us All the Time,’” Associated Press, 14 May 2009. Her allegation came seventeen months after initial public reports of Congress being briefed on EITs. Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen, “In Meetings, Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in Meetings, Spy Panels’ Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say,” Washington Post, 9 December 2007.

93 Martin Kady, “Panetta to CIA Employees: We Told Pelosi the Truth,” Politico, 15 May 2009.

94 Leon E. Panetta and Jim Newton, Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace (New York: Penguin Books, 2014), p. 223.

95 GOP views on Feinstein report.

96 Jose A. Rodriguez, Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012), p. 64.

97 Marc A. Thiessen, “Ex-CIA Counterterrorism Chief Says Pelosi ‘Reinventing the Truth’ about Waterboarding,” Washington Post, 30 April 2012.

98 Michael Hayden, “Democrats Politicize CIA Torture Report,” Washington Times, 15 December 2014.

99 Eli Lake, “Harman Queried CIA on Interrogation,” Washington Times, 5 May 2009.

100 Michael Hayden, Oral History Transcript, University of Virginia Miller Center, 20 November 2012, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/michael-hayden-oral-history

101 Panetta and Newton, Worthy Fights, p. 223.

102 Pat Milton, “Gina Haspel Says She Knows ‘the CIA Like the Back of My Hand,’” CBS News, 9 May 2018.

103 Sen. Dianne Feinstein, “Dianne Feinstein Defends the Torture Report,” Los Angeles Times, Op-Ed, 9 December 2014, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-feinstein-torture-report-20141209-story.html

104 Greg Miller, “Report Finds Harsh CIA Interrogations Ineffective,” Washington Post, 13 December 2012.

105 Feinstein, SSCI, 9 December 2014.

106 GOP dissent.

107 SSCI, press release, 9 December 2014.

108 “Torture Report Released,” The Situation Room, CNN, 9 December 2014.

109 Ibid.

110 “Sen. Collins’ Views on Senate Intelligence Committee Report on CIA Interrogation Program,” press release, 9 December 2014. McConnell quoted in CNN’s “Situation Room,” 9 December 2014.

111 Brian Bennett, “Dianne Feinstein Leaving Intelligence Job Amid Clash on Tactics Report,” Los Angeles Times, 7 December 2014.

112 GOP dissent on Feinstein.

113 “Washington Journal,” C-SPAN, December 2014, https://www.c-span.org/video/?323396-4/senate-cia-interrogation-report

114 Bill Harlow, with George Tenet, Porter J. Goss, Michael V. Hayden, John McLaughlin, Philip Mudd, and Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr., Rebuttal: The CIA Responds to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Study of Its Detention and Interrogation Program (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2015). Notably, this included no known Democrats. Vice Chairman Feinstein Staff Summary, “Fact Check: Inaccurate and Misleading Assertions Related to the CIA Detention and Interrogation Program in the Book, Rebuttal,” press release, 9 September 2015. The unclassified Feinstein report, Rebuttal, and SSCI Democratic response reach almost 1,000 pages.

115 Thomas Ferraro and Randall Mikkelsen, “Congress Votes to Outlaw CIA Waterboarding,” Reuters.com, 13 February 2008.

116 Margaret Brennan, “John Kerry Asks Feinstein to Delay Release of CIA Torture Report,” CBSNews.com, 5 December 2014.

117 David S. Cloud, “Republican Head of Senate Intelligence Committee Tries to Round Up All Copies of CIA Torture Report,” Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2017.

118 Ed Henry, “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” CNN, 16 February 2006.

119 “Senate Intelligence Committee Unveils Final Phase II Reports on Prewar Iraq Intelligence,” press release, 5 June 2008.

120 Ott, “Intelligence Oversight in Congress: Perilous Times.”

121 Adam Goldman, Nicholas Fandos, and Katie Benner, “Ex-Senate Aide Charged in Leak Case Where Times Reporter’s Records Were Seized,” New York Times, 7 June 2018, p. A1.

122 Hon. Mark R. Warner, “Opening Statement of Vice Chairman,” S. Hrg. 116-467, 5 May 2020.

123 Robert Draper, Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost its Mind (New York: Penguin, 2022), p. 207.

124 “Washington Journal,” 3 February 2018.

125 “Senate Intel Releases Bipartisan Report on Obama Admin Response to Russian Election Interference,” press release, 6 February 2020.

126 Sen. Richard Burr, “Farewell to the Senate,” Congressional Record, Vol. 168, No. 194 (14 2022), Senate, S7163.

127 Leon E. Panetta, “Dianne Feinstein’s Legacy: Doing What She Believed Was Right for the Nation,” Hill, 19 October 2023.

128 Warner, Opening Statement of Vice Chairman,” 5 May 2020.

129 Sen. Ron Wyden, “Wyden Opposes the Nomination of John Ratcliffe to be Director of National Intelligence,” press release, 21 May 2020.

130 David Smith, “Gina Haspel’s Lack of Clear Answers on Torture Frustrates Senate Democrats,” The Guardian, 9 May 2018; Shane Harris, “Undercover to Under Scrutiny: Gina Haspel, Nominee to Head CIA, to Face Senate Grilling,” Washington Post, 7 May 2018.

131 Diane Feinstein, Ron Wyden, and Martin Heinrich, “Senators to CIA: Refusal to make Haspel Information Public ‘Unacceptable,’” press release, 25 April 2018.

132 Olivia Gazis, “After Contentious Hearing, Gina Haspel Secures Crucial Committee Votes,” CBS News, 9 May 2018.

133 Clapper with Brown, Facts and Fears, p. 207.

134 Ibid.

135 Ibid., p. 208.

136 Ibid., p. 210.

137 Ibid., p. 209.

138 “Wyden Statement on Director Clapper’s Resignation,” press release, 17 November 2016.

139 Clapper with Brown, Facts and Fears, p. 210.

140 Ibid.

141 “Wyden Statement on Director Clapper’s Resignation.”

142 Clapper with Brown, Facts and Fears, p. 223.

143 Marc A. Thiessen, “Blame Wyden, Not Clapper, for ‘Lie’ to Congress on NSA Surveillance,” Washington Post, 12 June 2013.

144 Author’s interview, 12 April 2007.

145 Joseph W. Wippl, “‘We Come in Peace’: Relations between CIA Personnel and Congressional Members and Their Staff,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 33, No. 4 (2020), pp. 797–807.

146 Ana Cabrera, “Newsroom,” CNN, 29 September 2019, https://archive.org/details/CNNW_20190929_210000_CNN_Newsroom_With_Ana_Cabrera

147 Hayden, Oral History Transcript, 20 November 2012.

148 Stephen Engleberg, “Senator Leahy Says He Leaked Report of Panel,” New York Times, 29 July 1987, p. A1.

149 “Ethics Panel Ends Leak Probe of Sen. Shelby,” Associated Press, 14 November 2005.

150 Billy House, “Former Congress Members Mishandled Classified Papers,” Bloomberg .com, 9 March 2023.

151 Elizabeth Heckman, “Democrat Warns Congress Doesn’t ‘Totally Understand’ How to Handle Classified Documents: ‘Tip of the Iceberg,’” Fox News, 1 February 2023.

152 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, “Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence United States Senate, Covering the Period, January 4, 2019, to January 3, 2021,” 23 March 2021.

153 David Robarge, “Interview with Former US Senator Gary Hart,” Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 65, No. 4 (2021), p. 36.

154 Mike Casey. Interview with the author, 23 September 2010.

155 Barack Obama, “Statement by the President on the Intelligence Authorization Act,” White House, 7 October 2010. H.R. 2701, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010.

156 Ott, “Partisanship and the Decline of Intelligence Oversight,” p. 117.

157 Wippl, “‘We Come in Peace.’”

158 Robert M. Gates, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014), pp. 78 and 89, respectively.

159 Mark T. Esper, A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2022), p. 168.

160 Hayden, Oral History Transcript, 20 November 2012.

161 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, “Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence United States Senate, Covering the Period, January 4, 2019, to January 3, 2021.”

162 Wippl, “‘We Come in Peace,’” p. 807.

163 Hayden, Oral History Transcript, 20 November 2012.

164 Clapper with Brown, Facts and Fears, p. 69.

165 Mary Orndorff, “Tenet Lied about Him in Book, Shelby Says,” Tuscaloosa News, 2 May 2007.

166 Wippl, “‘We Come in Peace,’” p. 807.

167 “Washington Journal,” 3 February 2018.

168 Demirjian, “With Trump, Russia Probes Behind It.”

169 “This Week,” ABC News, Rep. Michael McCaul, Rep. Mike Turner, and Dr. Ashish Jha, 27 November 2022.

170 Leigh Ann Caldwell and Marianna Sotomayor, “McCarthy and Jeffries Want the House to Work, So They Started with Each Other,” Washington Post, 12 March 2023.

171 “This Week,” 27 November 2022.

172 Rep. Mike Turner, “Rep. Turner Demands FBI Briefing on Raid at Mar-a-Lago,” press release, 8 August 2022; Kathryn Watson and Grace Kazarian, “Top House Intel Republican Says Committee Will Subpoena Intel Community over COVID Origins,” CBS News, 16 December 2022.

173 Rep. Devin Nunes, “Opening Statement for Hearing on Diversity in the IC,” press release, 27 October 2021; additional views of Vice Chairman Rubio, “Keeping Politics Out of Our Intelligence Apparatus Is Essential for Its Success,” SSCI Senate Report 117-132, accompanying S. 4503, 20 July 2022.

174 Luke Broadwater, “Ex-Church Committee Aides Send Jordan an Open Letter,” New York Times, 17 February 2023, p. A11.

175 Federalist 10. The Constitution’s authors saw a much larger role for Congress.

176 Dana Priest, “Congressional Oversight of Intelligence Criticized,” Washington Post, 27 April 2004.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gregory C. McCarthy

Gregory C. McCarthy is a historian for the U.S. Air Force and a former congressional staffer in both the House and Senate. His Ph.D. in American Politics is from Catholic University of America. His views are his own and do not represent the United States Government. The author can be contacted at [email protected].