White_Male_Canada
10-21-2006, 12:54 AM
The Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee has suspended a Democratic staff member over a possible leak of a politically explosive intelligence report involving Iraq, officials said on Friday.
The action, taken three weeks before the November election battle for control of Congress, brought a protest from the committee's leading Democrat who accused Republicans of political retaliation.
The staff member, who was not identified, has not been accused of any wrongdoing, officials said.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the panel chairman, ordered his security clearance suspended after another Republican lawmaker raised suspicions about the staffer's handling of an April national intelligence estimate on global terrorism.
Hoekstra spokesman Jamal Ware said the staffer will not be allowed into the committee's secure areas or to view classified material until the committee completes an in-house review of the matter.
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Friday declined to comment on whether the Justice Department would also investigate.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061020/pl_nm/security_house_dc
The action, taken three weeks before the November election battle for control of Congress, brought a protest from the committee's leading Democrat who accused Republicans of political retaliation.
The staff member, who was not identified, has not been accused of any wrongdoing, officials said.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, the panel chairman, ordered his security clearance suspended after another Republican lawmaker raised suspicions about the staffer's handling of an April national intelligence estimate on global terrorism.
Hoekstra spokesman Jamal Ware said the staffer will not be allowed into the committee's secure areas or to view classified material until the committee completes an in-house review of the matter.
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Friday declined to comment on whether the Justice Department would also investigate.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061020/pl_nm/security_house_dc