WASHINGTON — CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress last month that senior CIA officials have concealed significant actions and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001, the chairman and other members of the House Intelligence Committee said in letters revealed Wednesday.
Exactly what actions Panetta disclosed to the House Intelligence Committee on June 24 is unclear, but committee chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said the CIA outright lied in one case.
“These notifications have led me to conclude that this committee has been misled, has not been provided full and complete notifications, and (in at least one case) was affirmatively lied to,” Reyes wrote in a letter Tuesday to Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the committee’s senior Republican.
A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.
Panetta brought the matters to the committee’s attention, CIA spokesman George Little said Wednesday.
“It is not the policy or practice of the CIA to mislead Congress. This agency and this director believe it is vital to keep the Congress fully and currently informed. Director Panetta’s actions back that up,” Little said in a statement.
The cryptic letter and CIA statement came on the eve of a House debate on an intelligence bill.
President Barack Obama’s aides have said they will recommend he veto the bill if it includes a Democrat-written provision requiring the president to notify the intelligence committees in their entirety about covert CIA activities rather than just their senior members.
