[Infowarrior] - Justin Amash: Mike Rogers Isn't Overseeing The Intelligence Community, He's Conspiring To Cover Up Its Activities

[Richard Forno]

Justin Amash: Mike Rogers Isn't Overseeing The Intelligence Community, He's Conspiring To Cover Up Its Activities

from the does-the-nsa-have-a-talking-bear? dept

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131010/02080524823/justin-amash-mike-rogers-isnt-overseeing-intelligence-community-hes-conspiring-to-cover-up-its-activities.shtml

Rep. Justin Amash has been highlighting for months how Rep. Mike Rogers, the head of the House Intelligence Committee seems to have gone out of his way to withhold information from Congress. In a recent speech, he teed off on Rogers, noting that while his job as head of the Intelligence Committee is supposed to be "oversight," it's actually been one of collusion with the White House to "cover up" the intelligence community's activities. Amash also responded to completely misleading (and, frankly, insulting) statements from Rogers' office implying that Rogers did make the necessary information "available" by inviting them to "classified briefings." However, Amash explained how those sessions were ridiculous because they weren't explanations about what was going on, but a sick game of 20 questions where Reps who were interested had to poke around in the dark:

But Amash said that intelligence officials are often evasive during classified briefings and reveal little new information unless directly pressed. 

"You don't have any idea what kind of things are going on," Amash said. "So you have to start just spitting off random questions. Does the government have a moon base? Does the government have a talking bear? Does the government have a cyborg army? If you don't know what kind of things the government might have, you just have to guess and it becomes a totally ridiculous game of twenty questions."


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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.