House panel to investigate Bergdahl swap

WASHINGTON – The House Armed Services Committee will investigate the Obama administration’s swap of an American prisoner for five Taliban leaders that caused a political firestorm over the lack of congressional notification and fears the high-level Taliban could return to the Afghanistan battlefield.

“We ought to look at the price,” Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the panel, told reporters after administration officials held a tense 90-minute, closed-door briefing for House Democrats and Republicans.

Officials from the White House, State and Defense departments and the intelligence community defended the exchange of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured in June 2009 in Afghanistan after he disappeared from his infantry unit, for five Taliban militants from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Republicans emerged from the Monday night session incensed that 80 to 90 people in the government knew about Bergdahl’s release ahead of time and not one member of Congress got a heads-up, including leaders of the national security committees.

Associated Press