LETTER TO THE HONORABLE HENRY A. WAXMAN, CHAIRMAN/COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
0001525414
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
U
Document Page Count:
8
Document Creation Date:
June 24, 2015
Document Release Date:
January 4, 2011
Sequence Number:
Case Number:
F-2007-02022
Publication Date:
June 1, 2007
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DOC_0001525414.pdf | 362.42 KB |
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. (b)(3)
riots,
US Classification//Non tfS//SCI//Codeword//FGI//Dissem Controls!/Non-Intel/!/Declass las approp
EXECUTIVE CORRESPONDENCE ROUTING SHEET
Office of General Counsel
Room No. and Building
06/01/2007
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Immediate,
THE DIRECTOR
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505
OGC-FO-2007-50035
1 June 2007
The Honorable Henry A. Waxman
Chairman
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
United States House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
I am writing in response to your 25 May 2007 letter
informing me that your Committee is seeking interviews of
several current and former CIA employees in connection with an
investigation related to Iraq's alleged efforts to obtain
uranium from Africa and its nuclear threat. While I understand
you are interested in investigating the matter, your request
raises several significant issues for the Agency, including the
identification and protection of classified information during
transcribed interviews intended to be at the unclassified level.
It will be extremely difficult for interviewees to.respond in.
such a setting and under these conditions while protecting
highly sensitive intelligence sources and methods.
I have written a letter to Chairman Reyes of the House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) raising this
and related issues and am enclosing a copy of that letter for
your review. In addition, I have asked my staff to work with
HPSCI staff on your request because HPSCI is an integral part of
the comprehensive legislative and oversight scheme the Agency
has been operating under since 1977. The Agency's Office of
Congressional Affairs (OCA) is the designated point of contact
for these types of requests and will discuss the Committee's
requests with both your staff and HPSCI staff. Although several
of the individuals listed in your letter are not Agency
The Honorable Henry A. Waxman
employees, I am sure you can appreciate that given the issues I
have highlighted above and in'my letter to Chairman Reyes, both
the Agency (through OCA) and HPSCI need to be involved in any
request to interview Agency employees.
Sincerely,
Michael V. Hayden
General USAF
cc: The Honorable Silvestre Reyes, Chairman/HPSCI
The Honorable Peter Hoekstra, HPSCI Ranking Member
The Honorable Thomas M. Davis III,
Oversight & Government Reform, Ranking Member
The Honorable John M. (Mike) McConnell/DNI
THE DIRECTOR
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505
29 May 2007
The Honorable Silvestre Reyes
Chairman
Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
I am writing to express my concern and secure your help
and the help of the Committee.
I have received several letters from Chairman Waxman of
the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in which
Chairman Waxman has stated that his committee is "the
principal oversight committee in the House of
.Representatives and has broad oversight jurisdiction."
Speaker Pelosi confirmed. this in a personal conversation
with me on Friday evening.
Since its inception in 1977, we have viewed the
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as our "principal
oversight committee" in the House. Indeed, the intelligence
Committee was formed to be the principal oversight body for
the Agency. Based on our common experience with oversight
and legislative responsibilities for the past decades, I am
seeking your advice as well as the Committee's advice as to
how best to respond to Chairman Waxman's requests.
For example, we have received a subpoena for the
?September 2003 Joint Report of the Department of State and
CIA's Inspector General on "The Alleged Iraqi Attempts to
Procure Uranium from Niger." This classified report was
undertaken at the request of the Intelligence Committee and
the Intelligence Committee has had the report since
29 September 2003. As a result, my strong preference is to
direct Chairman Waxman's staff members to your staff to
obtain access to the actual document; or should we,
separately, provide the Oversight and Government Reform
Committee with their own copy? If the latter, does your
Committee have any views as to who should have access to
this classified report and how it should be handled and
stored in Government Affairs spaces? We are not aware that
the staff from that Committee has the requisite security
clearances to review this report nor the secure storage
space necessary to protect it.
UNCLASSIFIED
The Honorable Silvestre Reyes.
The subpoena also requires that CIA produce all
documents that relate to communications since January 20,
2001, involving White House officials regarding Iraq's
efforts to obtain uranium from Africa and Iraq's nuclear
threat. Some of these documents could conceivably involve
claims of Executive Privilege; and we will,. of course, work
that out with the White House. But these documents could
also contain information that- remains highly classified.
Again, we are concerned and ask the Committee's counsel with
regards to questions of clearance, access, and storage.
In a separate correspondence Chairman Waxman informed
me that his Committee staffers seek to interview a series of
CIA officers "in connection with the Committee's ongoing
investigation into whether White House officials misled the
Congress and the public about Iraq's efforts to obtain
uranium from Africa and its nuclear threat." These
interviews are to be "on the record," and I believe they
will be transcribed at the unclassified level.
These interviews raise additional areas of,concern; and
again I seek your thoughts. First is the issue of
classification. Our view is that, despite everyone's best
efforts, it will be extremely difficult to keep these
discussions at the unclassified level. And what if, in the
interview, questions regarding intelligence sources and
methods are raised? Shall our officers refuse to answer
these questions? How then should any transcripts be
handled? At what point in the process will CIA be given
access to the transcripts to determine their national
security classification? i trust you agree that they must
be reviewed for classification before they are released to
the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
A second area of concern is the effect that could, if
we are not careful, result as a by-product of these
interviews. Our analysts have direct, intimate, and
sometimes contentious dialogue with policymakers in the
Legislative and Executive branches of government. I am sure
you will agree this kind of relationship is not just normal,
it is desirable. Only in this give-and-take, in this candid.
contest of ideas, are we able to sharpen our analysis and
respond to the challenges that policymakers give us. I ask
your support to ensure that these interviews, if conducted,
do not result in chilling this vital and largely private
dialogue for future analysts and policymakers.
2
UNCLASSIFIED
The Honorable Silvestre Reyes
I am also concerned that many, if not all, of those
called to Capitol Hill to chat with staff in transcribed
depositions will be called to testify in future open
sessions. We must avoid this at all costs. Having analysts
identified openly in testimony, even if they are not
technically under cover, raises counterintelligence
concerns, not to mention concerns for the safety and
security of the individuals and their families. We have,
for example, worked mightily to keep the name of one of
these same analysts out of recent publications because of
these'very concerns. On a more long-term level, I.hate to
think what this might do to our analysts' willingness to
take risks if they have to worry that any action they take
now could some day be scrutinized in public Congressional
depositions when circumstances change. Again, I ask for
your assistance in dealing with these matters.
Finally, as you know, CIA does not have unlimited
resources to expend on any activity, including our
unarguable responsibilities to Congressional oversight. We
need-to organize and prioritize our work. Are we, in the
Committee's view, now to consider the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee as our primary oversight body
for these questions dealing with Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction? i ask this because CIA has-already provided
hundreds of hours of testimony and thousands of pages of
documents to the Intelligence. Committees of both Houses on
these topics, and I believe HPSCI is satisfied with CIA's
efforts to.date. Other correspondence also indicates that
Chairman Waxman is asserting primary .jurisdiction over
questions of Ms. Valerie Plame and internal Agency
deliberations about Ambassador Wilson's trip to Africa.
Does the Intelligence Committee agree with that assertion?
Are there any more areas in which Chairman Waxman's
Committee will be our lead oversight entity in the House?
UNCLASSIFIED
The Honorable Silvestre Reyes,
These are very serious issues for our Agency. I have
directed my staff to contact your Committee staff directly
so that we can work together to address them.
An- original of this letter is being sent to
Congressman Hoekstra.
UNCLASSIFIED
Transmittal and Document Receipt
TO:
Honorable Henry A. Waxman, Chairman
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
United States House of Representatives
H-405, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
ATTN: Kristin Jepson
From:
Office of Congressional Affairs
ntelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505
Receipt
Date:
06/04/2007 OFFICER:
Description
Classification
DCIA response to
25 May 2007 letter seeking
interviews with
current CIA employees
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