All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

The ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee said the flap between Democrats and CIA Director Leon Panetta over whether the intelligence agency lied to lawmakers is "bizarre" and shows the Democrats lack leadership.

"[Republicans are] just kind of sitting on the sidelines. We're trying to focus on national security policy, national security issues, and the Democrats, from my perspective, are looking for some adult supervision. There's no leadership here at all. … This is very, very bizarre," Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra said on CBS' "The Early Show" Thursday.

Back in May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the CIA of lying to her about the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique during briefings in 2002.

Panetta responded saying it was not CIA policy to mislead Congress, but in recent letters Democrats allege Panetta told lawmakers last month that the agency had in fact concealed information repeatedly since 2001.

Republicans have said those letters, along with threats from President Obama to veto an upcoming intelligence bill, are calculated to give Pelosi political cover on whether she knew of waterboarding back in 2002.

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Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-Michigan), a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, caused what some have argued was a major lapse in security last week when he used the micro-blogging site Twitter to post real-time updates about a secret congressional envoy into Iraq.

Hoekstra’s blogging blunder has now prompted action from the Pentagon, whose spokesman told the Associated Press today that they will be reevaluating their current policy, which is to keep the movements of congressional delegations secret until after the parties have arrived at their location.

In light of the popularity of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, the Pentagon said it may have to find different ways to communicate its non-disclosure policy to delegates traveling abroad.

The troublesome twittering occured last week during a Middle East trip led by House Minority Leader John Boehner . The delegation had been the subject of a media embargo - although many news outlets were aware of the trip, it was kept under-wraps due to obvious safety concerns.

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"I think the important thing to remember is we're talking about terrorists here," House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters in reaction to President Obama's executive order to close Guantamo Bay and move its prisoners to U.S. facilities.

"I'm not sure there are any americans who want these terrorists in a holding facility or detention facility near them," Mr. Boehner added, reports CBS News' Jill Jackson.

CBS News' Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen notes that "there are several high-profile post-9/11 terrorists—including Richard Reid, Zacarias Moussaoui and Jose Padilla who already are in US prisons having been tried and convicted." All three men are detained in the Supermax facility in Colorado.

"Do we bring them into our borders? Do we release them back into the battlefield like some sixty-one detainees that have been released we know are back on the battlefield....to get back and rejoin this fight," Mr. Boehner asked.

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