Most people consider John Negroponte to be an astute inside the beltway player, but he may be harming his record by holding up NSA intercepts and other information from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as “payback” for the tough time some of the senators gave his nomination.
We know little about the controversial NSA intercept materials (and roster of redacted names of U.S. officials mentioned in the transcripts) which were requested and reviewed by John Bolton. What we do know through sources is that the bulk of the material dealt with incidents in 2003 and 2004.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar and Ranking Member Joseph Biden both sought from the administration the names, contextual information, and, if possible, the unedited actual intercept material that John Bolton reviewed during his tenure as Under Secretary of State for International Security and Arms Control.
The Battle over Bolton lurks just behind the showdown between Republicans and Democrats on the slate of contested judicial appointments. The major similarity in both cases is that there are some Republicans who oppose changing Senate filibuster rules — and there are Republican Senators who find the Bolton nomination disagreeable and offensive.
TWN has received a copy of the minority views in the Bolton Nomination Report filed by the Foreign Relations Committee with the U.S. Senate. Here is one excerpt of a report very well worth reading in full: VI.
In the most recent May 23rd edition of Newsweek, Howard Fineman writes in his article, “Ready to Blow”: Still this is the Moderates’ Moment, and for a paradoxical reason. With the rest of the Washington machinery in GOP hands, conservative activists understandably expect results.
TWN‘s earlier post about the likely timing of the Bolton vote seems to be holding. The Hill reports that Bill Frist and the White House split on the preferred timing of the Bolton vote.
I have heard lots of “non-denial denials” in the past, but George Galloway’s rejection and “full-body denial” of all accusations posed by Norm Coleman yesterday was as clear and resolute as could be imagined.
Today it is likely, though not certain, that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will “report on the Bolton hearings” to the U.S. Senate “without recommendation.
Ken Jarboe alerted me to this important point made by Alan Greenspan on Sunday during a commencement address at the Wharton School: I do not deny that many appear to have succeeded in a material way by cutting corners and manipulating associates, both in their professional and in their personal lives.