Congress Is Asleep

The Seattle Times:

Republican committees in the House and Senate have either been mum or indifferent to the Bush administration's stewardship of national intelligence. Now, members of Congress are shocked — shocked — at Gen. Michael V. Hayden's association with warrantless eavesdropping by the National Security Agency he directs.

Congress never challenged the president's legal rationale after the domestic spying became known. The same people sat on their hands as the power and prerogatives of the Central Intelligence Agency were consolidated under John Negroponte, the new director of national intelligence...

Congress dozed as the Pentagon amassed roughly 80 percent of the intelligence clout in government. Now, the request to put a general in charge of a diminished CIA has Capitol Hill in a tizzy...

Republicans in Congress refuse to explore how the White House used the information it received before the Iraq war. That may yet fall to Democrats to investigate. The willingness of the GOP to look the other way is actually highlighted by this flurry over Hayden... Congress is asleep.