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Holt: No support for sweeping CIA investigation
07/31/09 08:00 AM ET
Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that his committee's chairman does not yet support a sweeping investigation into CIA activities.
"He certainly has authorized and is supportive of the limited investigation so far," Holt said of Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas). "I'm busy talking about broader investigations," he told MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Thursday night.
Holt indicated that he was pushing hard for a broader investigation of the intelligence agency, saying that he doesn't "have, you know, the Congress behind this yet."
The New Jersey Democrat said that a probe into many facets of the CIA over the past three decades was necessary to remedying the problems plaguing the agency. "I don't care what your line of work is. If you're unexamined you slip into bad habits, you don't do as good a job," he said.
A broader investigation into CIA practices may steal some of the focus from the Obama administration's domestic agenda, which includes healthcare and climate change legislation.
The House Intelligence Committee has taken preliminary steps in their investigation of CIA interrogation tactics used during the Bush administration as well as a secret program to kill Al Qaeda leaders administered by former Vice President Dick Cheney.
But Holt wants to dig deeper and over a longer period of time. He suggested the committee should investigate wiretapping, spying, assassination attempts, and actions "disruptive" to foreign governments.
"We need something on the scale of what was known as the Church Committee back in the 1970s," Holt said in reference to the committee that investigated a broad swath of illegal CIA and FBI activities in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
"He certainly has authorized and is supportive of the limited investigation so far," Holt said of Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas). "I'm busy talking about broader investigations," he told MSNBC's Ed Schultz on Thursday night.
Holt indicated that he was pushing hard for a broader investigation of the intelligence agency, saying that he doesn't "have, you know, the Congress behind this yet."
The New Jersey Democrat said that a probe into many facets of the CIA over the past three decades was necessary to remedying the problems plaguing the agency. "I don't care what your line of work is. If you're unexamined you slip into bad habits, you don't do as good a job," he said.
A broader investigation into CIA practices may steal some of the focus from the Obama administration's domestic agenda, which includes healthcare and climate change legislation.
The House Intelligence Committee has taken preliminary steps in their investigation of CIA interrogation tactics used during the Bush administration as well as a secret program to kill Al Qaeda leaders administered by former Vice President Dick Cheney.
But Holt wants to dig deeper and over a longer period of time. He suggested the committee should investigate wiretapping, spying, assassination attempts, and actions "disruptive" to foreign governments.
"We need something on the scale of what was known as the Church Committee back in the 1970s," Holt said in reference to the committee that investigated a broad swath of illegal CIA and FBI activities in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
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