Jousting Over the Senate Intelligence Committee
“I am increasingly concerned that the Senate Intelligence Committee is unable to carry out its critically important oversight and threat assessment responsibilities due to stifling partisanship that is exhibited through repeated calls by Democrats on the committee to conduct politically-motivated investigations,” wrote Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in a March 3 letter (pdf) to Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid.
“I agree with Senator Frist,” Sen. Reid replied, “the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee has been bogged down by partisanship.”
“When faced with strong evidence that the Bush Administration has misused intelligence…, time and again the Senate Intelligence Committee has ducked its responsibilities and refused to hold the Administration accountable. The recent record of the Republican-controlled committee is most notable for its abdication of authority and responsibility,” Sen. Reid said.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is scheduled to vote on March 7 on a proposal by Senator Rockefeller to conduct an investigation of the NSA warrantless surveillance activity. An investigation is favored by Democrats and some Republicans, but opposed by the Republican leadership.
In the current environment of declining trust and magnifying strategic competition, banning debris-creating tests is a concrete step towards stability that favors interests of all states seeking to conduct space activities.
Often negotiations between data center developers and local officials are conducted behind closed doors, protected by NDAs. How can we have an informed debate, when we don’t know what’s on the table?
As federal data policy nerds, the question we get asked all the time is “How much data has the current administration terminated?”
Google’s motto famously used to be “don’t be evil.” However, its latest feature has just made being evil a whole lot easier.