Senator Pat Roberts chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and has a rather large influence on how our intelligence agencies conduct their business. For that reason, the following letter from Roberts to John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence, seems rather tepid at best:

June 27, 2006 The Honorable John D. Negroponte Director of National Intelligence Washington, D.C. 20511

Dear Mr. Director:

Unauthorized disclosures of classified information continue to threaten our national security – exposing our sensitive intelligence sources and methods to our enemies. Numerous, recent unauthorized disclosures of sensitive intelligence programs have directly threatened important efforts in the war against terrorism. Whether the President’s Terrorist Surveillance Program or the Department of Treasury’s effort to track terrorist financing, we have been unable to persuade the media to act responsibly and protect the means by which we protect this nation.

To gain a better understanding of the damage caused by unauthorized disclosures of this type, I ask that you perform an assessment of the damage caused by the unauthorized disclosure of some of our most sensitive intelligence programs. While your assessment may range beyond the President’s Terrorist Surveillance Program and Treasury’s Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, I am particularly interested in the damage attributable to these two unauthorized disclosures.

Sincerely,
Pat Roberts
Chairman

One question that immediately springs to mind: why doesn't Senator Roberts call for a hearing on the damage done by the New York Times in its multiple attacks on covert programs during a time of war? Calling for an analysis sounds good, and gives the impression that the DNI has taken action of some kind. It keeps the heat on the Times, but doesn't advance the story.

A report of this kind will make moderate headlines at some media outlets for a day. Politicians will pose for the cameras and expound on the irresponsibility of Bill Keller and the New York Times (as well as the Los Angeles Times), and bloggers will quote its findings endlessly. After the news cycle moves to another day, it will disappear, and so will any attention to those who expose successful covert programs designed to catch terrorists before they kill Americans.

By itself, it's an out.

Roberts has the authority to schedule hearings on this topic. Live testimony from intelligence professionals can drive the point home that they have worked hard to find the trail of terrorists through communications and financial networks. Just as the 9/11 Commission painted our intelligence services as incompetent and underresourced, the SSIC could demonstrate just how reporters like Eric Lichtblau and James Risen sabotage their efforts to protect us. Rather than just sticking for one news cycle, those hearings would last for days, providing plenty of testimony and all of the reports we can hope to read at the end.

If Pat Roberts really wanted something done about these leaks, he wouldn't have written Negroponte at all. He would have written to Alberto Gonzalez demanding an investigation into the violation of laws pertaining to classified data. Roberts would have demanded that Gonzalez empanel a grand jury and subpoena everyone involved in the leaks, including Lichtblau, Risen, Keller, the reporters and editors at the Los Angeles Times, and all of the relevant personnel at the CIA and Pentagon with access to this information.

We don't need a report from Negroponte. We need our elected representatives to start taking national-security leaks seriously. This isn't even a good start towards that end.

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