- Click here for the article.
A House panel on Wednesday announced it is seeking information from the Obama administration on U.S. intelligence collection that may have swept up members of Congress.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s announcement comes after a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. collected information on private exchanges between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of Congress during ongoing negotiations for a nuclear deal with Iran.
“The House Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations in the Wall Street Journal regarding possible Intelligence Community (IC) collection of communications between Israeli government officials and members of Congress,” Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said in a statement. “The Committee has requested additional information from the IC to determine which, if any, of these allegations are true, and whether the IC followed all applicable laws, rules, and procedures.”
In response, a senior administration official suggested on Wednesday afternoon that lawmakers on designated committees may already have been informed of the data collection now in the news. "The Intelligence Community is required to keep Congressional oversight committees fully informed of intelligence activities," the official said in a statement.
Although the information collected by intelligence officials apparently included comments from members of Congress, there's no evidence yet that those American lawmakers were the intended targets of the surveillance, as opposed to the Israeli premier and his aides.
For more:
- The National Interest: The NSA-Israel Scandal: Who Cares?
- Wall Street Journal: U.S. Spy Net on Israel Snares Congress.
