Thank you Madame Speaker.

This is a flawed bill; I think this side of the aisle has sufficiently laid out the plethora of reasons why it should be sent back to committee and fixed. The intelligence community is too important to our national security to allow a bill with as many concerns as this one to pass.

However, I’m not here today to discuss this bill per se, but rather to discuss what I see as a fatal flaw in the way information is disseminated to Members of this august body. Nothing is more critical to the role each of us plays in representing our districts and this country than for us to have every relevant piece of information available to us prior to casting a vote – certainly prior to casting a vote as important as one updating the authorizations for the way our government gathers intelligence.

Yet many members of this House have been denied access to key pieces of information simply by virtue of the fact that they do not sit on the Intelligence Committee. I recognize that membership on any given committee in this Chamber means that one is given access to matters in a special capacity above those Members not on that Committee. That is the nature of a jurisdictional Committee structure, and I respect that; I would even say that dividing up responsibilities is critical for achieving anything in a body as large as this one.

Not being a member of a Committee, however, should not translate into having access to NOTHING that falls under that Committee. Certainly, there are some pieces of information that are so important, of such a national level, that every Member of this body, should they so desire, should have access to them.

Last summer, the story broke of photographs depicting detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay. I formally requested through the Intelligence Committee access to these photos. I assumed it would be a simple request. In 2005, similar photos of detainees at Abu Ghraib were made available to every member of the House by this same Committee, under the leadership of then-Chairman Hoekstra. This time, after months of not having a response, I was informed that the Committee did not retain the photos from Guantanamo Bay and could not, or would not, allow non-members of the Intelligence Committee to access them.

At the same time as my request to view these photos, I requested to review the classified CIA Inspector General report titled “Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities”. After waiting months, I received formal notification that the Committee had denied my request. No reason was given for this denial. Why? Why was my request dismissed without reason? It is just because I am not a member of the Committee? I can hardly believe on an issue as critical and crucial as this, I would not be allowed access as an authorizer and appropriator.

I believe strongly that for me to vote on something as important as the Intelligence Authorization bill, I should have every available piece of information at my disposal – including a report on the interrogation techniques used by our Intelligence community. Without this information, how can my vote ever be truly informed?
 
Yet a third time I requested assistance from this Committee so I could make a fully informed vote, and my request was shot down before it could ever be formally made. On January 27, 2010, the Intelligence Committee held a closed briefing on the November 5, 2009, shooting at Fort Hood in Texas. This has been an issue that I have followed closely, and many of my constituents have loved ones stationed at Fort Hood. My staff contacted the Committee, asking for Unanimous Consent that I may attend the briefing. My office was told that consent to attend an Intelligence Briefing could only be done at a business meeting, and since no business meeting was scheduled prior to the Fort Hood briefing, the request would fall on deaf ears. It has become very clear to me that in order to maintain its exclusive control over the information given to the Committee, the Committee has constructed rules that shield it from even having to consider granting access to other Members of this body.

I understand the sensitive nature of the Intelligence Committee’s work and respect that certain pieces of information must be shared with only a select few. However, narrow targeted requests from Members seeking information critical to their understanding of legislation which they will be voting on should not be denied. The Intelligence Committee’s refusal to share relevant information with other members of this body should be concerning to every person in this House.

Unfortunately, even without the questionable provisions contained within this bill, I fear I could not approve such legislation knowing that I possess only part of the story. I cannot cast an uninformed – or partially informed – vote.

With that, Madame Speaker, I yield back.


To view the video of this floor statement, click here.