If you wish to know why George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have not been impeached, here’s your answer. Why Is ‘The Congressional Watchdog’ Not Watching Our Spies?By Cliff Montgomery – Apr. 15th, 2008A government may only pretend to be democratic when the people know what politicians are doing in their name. A state official who acts without the oversight of the people is by definition a tyrant, since their unchecked whim soon becomes our law.This truth makes the recent appearance of a few revealing ‘letters to the editor’ in The Washington Post quite exceptional.The letters in question were written by some of the most powerful individuals in the nation’s capital–and what they exposed to readers was extraordinary.A March 28th Post letter written by Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director Lt. Gen. Michael Maples declared that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has not conducted a single audit of his intelligence agency for at least a decade.This is an amazing, and frightening, revelation. The GAO, according to its own website, is ” ‘the investigative arm of Congress’ and ‘the congressional watchdog.’ “”GAO supports the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities,” continues the agency’s mission statement on its website, “and helps [to] improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people.”So congresspeople have an agency which it may use to investigate and check an Executive Branch that daily becomes more reckless and out-of-control. They just rarely use it where it’s needed most.Nor may it be rightly be claimed that the GAO has no right to oversee the workings of this Executive intelligence agency within the Pentagon.After all, the Post had reported in its March 7th edition that this congressional office “is already empowered to examine the finances” of the DIA. A Defense Department directive further requires every Pentagon agency, including the DIA, “to cooperate fully with the GAO.”But the DIA hardly is the only Bush intelligence agency acting without real congressional oversight.Though the GAO has an office within the notorious National Security Agency (NSA), not one member of Congress has bothered to ask the GAO to conduct an audit of the Agency, GAO chief David Walker told a Senate land Security subcommittee on February 29th.Though the NSA is responsible for numerous illegal surveillance practices and multi-billion dollar acquisition debacles, Congress has refused to ask the GAO to investigate these matters even once.For some unknown reason, in recent years the intelligence committees of Congress have all failed–or have refused–to properly watch over White House intelligence agencies with such simple oversight tools as GAO audits.If you wish to know why George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have not been impeached, here’s your answer.We can only guess that the matter has become so embarrassing that even congresspeople feel it is time to act. Now that it may be too late in this administration’s history to have any real effect, Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) of the House intelligence committee have asked the GAO to look into security clearance operations in American intelligence agencies.At least our two political parties are good at pretending this is still a working democracy.Correction: In a handful of previous articles, wrongly referred to the GAO as a “Bush Administration agency.” Though it acts as a watchdog of the Executive Branch, it in fact is an agency of Congress. We are sorry for this mistake.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
How Necessary Laws Are Killed These Days
Lawmakers generally only fight to protect the things they care about – and all too often, that just doesn’t include the lives of most of their constituents.
