Pete Hoekstra

Washington, Jul 31, 2008 - U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, issued the following statement after today’s announcement in the press that President Bush has approved revisions to Executive Order 12333, the order that governs the activities of America’s intelligence agencies:

“The administration knows that a PowerPoint briefing to staff and notifying the committee after leaking details of an executive order to the media does not constitute briefing the congressional intelligence committees as they have claimed.

“The president is within his authorities to sign an executive order, but his administration is wrong to suggest that Congress was in any way involved or consulted in this process. Given the months that went into writing the Intelligence Reform Act that created the DNI, the congressional intelligence committees should have had the opportunity to review and offer meaningful feedback on DNI authorities contained in the order.

“As it was, the text of the order was not provided to the intelligence committee until 30 minutes before the committee was briefed and after it had been released on the Web. Given the impact that this order will have on America’s intelligence community, and this committee’s responsibility to oversee intelligence activities, this cannot be seen as anything other than an attempt to undercut congressional oversight.”

Editor’s Note: Hoekstra was a principal author and served as chairman of the congressional conference that reported the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.