House Passes Resolution Criticizing Media Leaks

House Passes Resolution Criticizing Media Leaks
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
June 30, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - In a move that simply sends a message, the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a nonbinding resolution supporting the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program.

More to the point, the resolution also criticized media leaks that "impair[s] the international fight against terrorism and needlessly exposes Americans to the threat of further terror attacks..."

The resolution passed on a 227-183 vote.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), in a press release praising passage of the resolution, said recent leaks about the financial tracking program by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal have hurt the government's ability to protect American citizens.

"The America we live in today has changed. Terrorists are plotting in the shadows to hurt the American people and destroy our way of life. It is government's role to remain vigilant and stop these terrorists in their tracks before they harm American families," Hastert said.

"It's simple: Loose lips kill American people. And wayward ink can draw a clear path for the enemy to follow."

Hastert also expressed disappointment that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "refused to condemn those who leak and publish intelligence programs designed to root out the terrorists before they inflict harm against U.S. citizens."

In other words, Pelosi voted against the resolution - and she explained her reasons for doing so in a speech on the House floor.

Pelosi said both Democrats and Republicans support "effective tools to fight terrorism, including the tracking of terrorist financing here and abroad under all applicable laws."

And she said no one in either party condones the disclosure of national security information.

But she called the Republican resolution a political document that "makes sweeping and dubious conclusions on the facts and legality of the financial transaction surveillance program." She accused Republicans of taking the president at his word, without any "fact-finding or oversight."

Pelosi complained that the Bush administration lacks credibility when it comes to complaining about leaks. "The administration's record, and that of this Republican Congress, are marked by selective disclosures of classified information and selective expressions of displeasure over leaks," Pelosi said.

"So let's take this resolution for what it is: it is a campaign document. The Republican resolution contains a number of statements that simply cannot be factually confirmed, and are not the result of congressional fact-finding or rigorous congressional oversight."

Pelosi specifically questioned whether the program has been "conducted in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and executive orders," as the resolution says it has been; or whether "appropriate safeguards and reviews have been instituted to protect individual civil liberties" and whether "Congress has been appropriately informed and consulted for the duration of the program."

There's never been any oversight of the program, Pelosi insisted. "They're asking us to vote on something that we absolutely cannot attest to. Not any one of you can attest to this as a fact, because it isn't a fact," she said.



Pelosi supported an alternative Democratic resolution, which she described as more balanced and accurate, but that resolution never made it to the floor for a vote.
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Leave it to Pelosi to never admonish those in the media who insist on threatening our National Security.