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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - April 3, 2008
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Intelligence Director McConnell Is Cast as a Lobbyist
By Greg Miller
The Los Angeles Times
Congressional Democrats see the spy chief as an agent of
the Bush administration. Relations are strained.
Washington - On the eve of a House vote on controversial
wiretapping legislation last month, the nation's
intelligence director, J. Michael McConnell, convened a
secret weekend meeting in northern Virginia with members
of the House Intelligence Committee.
The two-day session was designed to promote a calmer
atmosphere for discussing an array of intelligence issues,
including the nation's eavesdropping laws. But participants
said the event ended with a series of acrimonious exchanges.
Democrats accused McConnell of making exaggerated claims
and of doing the bidding of the Bush administration,
according to officials who attended the event. McConnell
bristled at the Democrats' charges, and chastised members
of the committee for failing to defend the intelligence
community amid a barrage of bad press.
As lawmakers return to Washington this week to resume
negotiations on legislation that will shape the govern-
ment's ability to intercept international phone calls and
e-mails - and compel U.S. telecommunications companies to
provide extensive access to their networks - House
Democrats say that relations with McConnell remain frayed.
Spy chiefs have often seen their support in Congress fade
after embarrassing intelligence flaps. But McConnell has
drawn lawmakers' ire largely because the Bush administration
has put him in the unusual role of intelligence community
lobbyist.
"I think people recognize that McConnell is very bright,
very capable, and wants what is best for the country,"
said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), a member of the
House Intelligence Committee.
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"But I do think that he has not overcome the initial
impression in the House that, rather than speak as an
independent voice for what the intelligence community
needed, he instead carried water for the administration,"
Schiff said. "I think that created a cloud around the
DNI that carries forward to this day."
The tensions underscore the extent to which the soft-
spoken McConnell has struggled with the political
dimensions of his job. A retired U.S. Navy admiral,
McConnell came into the position with the reputation
of a technocrat who was expected to operate largely
behind the scenes, fixing broken pieces of the
intelligence bureaucracy.
Instead, he has been pulled into politically charged
debates over intelligence issues including CIA
interrogation tactics and how much authority the
government should have to eavesdrop on phone calls
going into or out of the United States.
"He's in largely unknown territory here," said Mark
Lowenthal, a former senior CIA official and previous
staff director of the House Intelligence Committee.
"No previous DNI or [CIA director] has had to engage
in such a public political debate about the authorities
of the intelligence community."
McConnell's role as the Bush administration's point person
on espionage legislation is particularly unusual. U.S.
intelligence chiefs have periodically been at the center
of political storms over botched spy operations or pitched
nomination fights. But they have traditionally been
expected to remain insulated from policy issues, not to
function as administration lobbyists on controversial
pieces of legislation.
A spokesman for McConnell said that the director's dealings
with Congress were "always in good faith."
"He values the relationship with Congress," said the
spokesman, Michael Birmingham. "He works at it, and he
invites and welcomes the oversight they provide."
The House defied McConnell and the Bush administration last
month by passing an eavesdropping bill without provisions
that he and the White House had called essential.
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The main point of contention has been over whether to give
retroactive legal protection to U.S. phone companies that
are facing dozens of lawsuits for letting U.S. spy agencies
monitor calls and e-mails traveling across their networks.
House Democrats have resisted granting such immunity, say-
ing it would give companies a pass for taking part in what
some describe as an illegal spying operation. But both
sides have agreed on giving the companies legal protection
for current and future assistance.
Beyond their differences over that issue, some House
members said they had become disenchanted with McConnell
because of his role in the extended debate.
Many trace the animosity to last year, when Democrats
accused the director of backing out of a deal they thought
they had reached with him on a comprehensive eavesdropping
bill.
McConnell denies the two sides had reached a deal or that
he succumbed to White House pressure. Aides say McConnell
has not been doing the administration's bidding, but has
taken positions that reflect his own views.
Nonetheless, Democrats have since complained that McConnell
has employed pressure tactics, including making alarming
claims about the consequences of failing to pass the wire-
tapping legislation favored by the White House.
In letters to lawmakers, McConnell warned that prolonged
debate by the House was making the nation "more vulnerable
to terrorist attack and other foreign threats."
In a newspaper interview last year, he said that merely
debating the issue meant that "some Americans are going to
die," because terrorists and other adversaries would learn
more about America's surveillance capabilities.
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More recently, at a House hearing in February, McConnell
was accused of offering misleading testimony when he warned
that allowing temporary eavesdropping authority to lapse
would cause phone companies to quit cooperating.
"No, that's not correct. That's not correct," Rep. Anna G.
Eshoo (D-Menlo Park) shot back. Democrats have said that
the temporary law provides for continued private sector
cooperation through the rest of this year.
When the law did lapse, officials at the Director of
National Intelligence Office and the Justice Department
held a conference call with reporters to say that they
were already seeing reduced cooperation and emerging
intelligence gaps. But the next day the White House
said that the major companies had all resumed complying.
Last month's closed-door meeting involving McConnell and
members of the House Intelligence Committee was arranged
in part to allow them to discuss the issue away from the
media glare. Some participants said it was successful.
"I think the fact that it was open and argumentative at
times was very positive," said Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppers-
berger (D-Md.). "I think he improved his relations [with
the committee] just by communicating."
Neither McConnell nor the ranking members of the House
Intelligence Committee would comment on the meeting.
The House and Senate have approved differing versions of
the wiretapping legislation, and are expected to begin
talks on reconciling those bills. Congressional officials
said prospects for finding a compromise - as well as the
role McConnell will play in that process - were unclear.
"I feel he's an honorable person," Ruppersberger said.
"Some of my peers feel he's compromised. I would say that
on the majority side, we were not happy with some of the
positions he took."
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