Disclosure on secret prisons raises call for investigation

WASHINGTON – Congress’ top Republican leaders Tuesday demanded an immediate joint House and Senate investigation into the disclosure of classified information to the Washington Post that detailed a web of secret prisons being used to house and interrogate terrorism suspects.

The Post’s article, published on Nov. 2, has led to new questions about the treatment of detainees and the CIA’s use of “black sites” in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. The issue dogged President Bush in his recent trip to Latin America and has created consternation in Eastern Europe.

“If accurate, such an egregious disclosure could have long-term and far-reaching, damaging and dangerous consequences, and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., wrote in a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees.

The letter requests that the committees “immediately initiate” a bicameral investigation. It also instructs the committees to refer to the Justice Department any information it uncovers that might constitute a violation of the law.

The CIA General Counsel’s Office has also notified the Justice Department that a release of classified information took place in connection with the Post report, a senior administration official said Tuesday. Such referrals are made at the rate of three to four per week, according to intelligence officials. But the notice is also the first step in a process that could lead to a criminal investigation, as happened in the Valerie Plame case.

The CIA will be required to fill out an 11-point questionnaire outlining the damage done by the release, how the information has been protected and the individuals or groups with knowledge of the information. Justice prosecutors will then determine whether they believe a criminal investigation is warranted.

A spokesman for the Post declined to comment on the letter from the congressional leaders. The article, by staff writer Dana Priest, said the CIA has operated a covert prison system that at times included sites in eight countries, including democracies in Eastern Europe. It cited as sources unnamed current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents.

The Post did not publish the names of the Eastern European countries involved, at the request of senior U.S. officials. The article said the officials argued that the disclosure might disrupt counterterrorism efforts in those countries and elsewhere, and could make them targets of terrorist retaliation.

Congress has conducted fewer than a half-dozen bicameral investigations, reserving the process for the most pressing issues, such as the conduct of the Civil War and the illegal arms sales to Iran in the 1980s that were used to finance rebels in Nicaragua. The most recent House-Senate investigation came in 2002, when the intelligence committees looked into the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Lawmakers from both parties immediately expressed misgivings about the request. Democrats pounced on it, suggesting that if the GOP leaders believe the disclosure of information on secret prisons deserves to be investigated, so does the leak of inaccurate intelligence on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and White House officials identifying Plame as a covert CIA operative.

“There is plenty to investigate about the Bush administration’s use and misuse of intelligence,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “The American people deserve the truth.”

Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., said investigating the source of the prison article would be acceptable, as long as Congress also investigates the secret prisons themselves.

“If you want to investigate everything and not be selective, that would make sense,” he said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said: “Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. The real story is those jails.”

More generally, Republicans suggested it is unwise to pick a fight with the media over an issue that exposes so many political vulnerabilities for their party.