The Briefing Dates

I find the list of briefings on the domestic wiretap program as instructive for what it tells us about the program itself (and Bush’s dealings with Congress) as it is as proof that Gonzales is full of shit. In no particular order or structure, here are some thoughts:

Citizens and Voters Need Not Know

This document was declassified on May 17, 2006, before the midterm elections. But this is the first we’re hearing of it. I rather think that John Laesch would have liked to be able to tell voters that Denny Hastert had approved warrantless wiretapping of American citizens three times. I’m sure that Marcy Winograd would have liked to be able to tell voters that Jane Harman had signed off on wireless wiretapping on eight separate occasions. Why didn’t we get this list earlier? (Nevermind … I think I know the answer to that.)

See cboldt for this correction. This list has been available…

Venue

They started having briefings on the Hill after Risen and Lichtblau revealed the program on December 16, 20065. Perhaps that’s because (as Gonzales likes to repeat endlessly) Bush had confirmed the program and it no longer had to be secreted away inside the situation room.

Funding

They’ve conducted three briefings for leaders of defense appropriations subcommittees:

  • December 4, 2001, for Daniel Inouye (then-Chair of Senate Appropriations, Defense Subcommittee) and Ted Stevens (Ranking Member of the same subcommittee)
  • February 28, 2006, for Bill Young (then-Chair of House Appropriations, Defense Subcommittee) and John Murtha (Ranking Member of the same subcommittee)
  • May 11, 2006 for Young and Murtha again

I’m really curious about these briefings. How detailed were they (a particularly pertinent question since Murtha, Young, and Stevens are among the most corrupt members of Congress)? Why did the Senate get briefed once, close to the inception of the program, and the House get briefed almost five years later, when it was under fire (and when, because of Duke Cunningham, the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee was itself under fire)? I assume the program is funded out of some kind of black budget. So why brief the Appropriations leaders at all? Was there some kind of expenditure that was public, that needed approval?