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| Wilson Releases Letter to US Attorney General requesting Briefing on Terrorist Surveillance Program Agreement |
January 19, 2007 |
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Washington, DC – Congresswoman Heather Wilson, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, today released a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting a full briefing on this week’s FISA Court agreement on the Terrorist Surveillance Program.
The letter text is below:
Alberto Gonzales
Attorney General
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Attorney General,
I received a copy of your letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning the Terrorist Surveillance Program. I have not been briefed on this new arrangement and my telephone requests to be briefed have not resulted in any action. I am therefore formally requesting to be briefed by the knowledgeable officials in the Department of Justice on the nature and legal basis of this most recent court order. I am also requesting a copy of the court order and any memorandum of law supporting and explaining this order. These copies can be provided through the cleared staff at the House Intelligence Committees.
The National Security Act of 1947 requires the President to ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the United States. As Attorney General, you are responsible for reporting to the Congressional Intelligence Committees under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. Your legislative liaison staff has been trying to pass the buck for informing the Congress to the director of National Intelligence who, in turn, has passed it back to you. This kind of bureaucratic game playing has to stop. I am formally requesting to be fully informed on this critical intelligence matter. Thank you for your prompt attention.
Sincerely,
Heather Wilson
Member of Congress
Cc: Ambassador Negroponte, ODNI
Cc: Chairman Silvestre Reyes, HPSCI
Cc: Ranking Member Hoekstra, HPSCI
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