Possible Sen. Judiciary Hearing on FBI Informants

[George W. Maschke]

U.S. Senator Charles E. Grassley is reportedly seeking Judiciary Committee hearings into the FBI's use of informants and the Bureau's "inadequate controls." One such inadequate control is the use of polygraphy to assess the truthfulness of informants (as well as their "handlers"), and if such a hearing is indeed scheduled, then this would be an ideal opportunity for those with relevant information to bring it to the attention of Congress.

New York Times correspondent Eric Lichtblau mentioned Sen. Grassley's interest in such hearings in a 20 April 2003 article titled, "FBI Spy Case Highlights Problems With Informants."

[George W. Maschke]

Interestingly, a version of Eric Lichtblau's above-linked article published in the Oakland Tribune under the title, "Case opens FBI's dirty closet" adds the following sentence that was not included in the version on the New York Times website:

"FBI officials said they had also begun more aggressive polygraph testing of informants in counterintelligence."

[George W. Maschke]

Senators Leahy, Grassley, and Specter have formally requested a hearing into the Smith-Leung case that would include the FBI's procedures for handling confidential informants. See the following Associated Press report for details:

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20030428_1417.html

In view of the bi-partisan support for such a hearing, I think it's likely to occur.

[George W. Maschke]

The full text of Sens. Leahy, Grassley, and Specter's letter to Sen. Hatch may be read here:

http://www.senate.gov/~leahy/press/200304/042803.html

[George W. Maschke]

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairmant Orrin Hatch has rejected Sens. Leahy, Grassley, and Specter's request for hearings into the FBI's handling of confidential informants. The following is from Eric Lichtblau's article, "Ex-Agent Gets Some Immunity in Spy Case" published in the New York Times on 1 May:

Several leading senators have called for hearings, but Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Utah Republican who is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, rejected the idea today. He said he did not think it was "the appropriate time" for a review while the Justice Department was conducting criminal and internal investigations.

But Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is one of the committee members who requested a hearing, said he was disappointed by the decision. "It's difficult for me to understand why we can't find time to come to grips with security issues that are jeopardizing our security and hampering our premier domestic intelligence and law enforcement agency," Mr. Leahy said.

[Seeker]

 
sighs.........
Trying to keep the faith...........
Seeker

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairmant Orrin Hatch has rejected Sens. Leahy, Grassley, and Specter's request for hearings into the FBI's handling of confidential informants. The following is from Eric Lichtblau's article, "Ex-Agent Gets Some Immunity in Spy Case" published in the New York Times on 1 May: