Senate Intel Committee Pushing for More Transparency

Spencer Ackerman catches a late-Friday-afternoon release from the Senate Intelligence Committee about the 2010 intel-funding bill. The bill includes new disclosure provisions that are likely to ruffle feathers in the intel community, including a requirement that all members of Congress be briefed on the "features" of briefings received by the "Gang-of-Eight".

A lot hinges on the interpretation of "features", but this has the potential to bring some much needed sunlight. One of the peculiarities of the Gang-of-Eight briefing process is that members are not allowed to discuss anything on which they were briefed, including things that are public knowledge. Un-briefed members clearly can't be held to this standard since, well, they weren't briefed. Just knowing that there has been a briefing on, for example, detainee treatment could be enough to get some members asking the kinds of questions that might have made the path to Guantanamo much more difficult.