Re: “Republicans vote to release memo alleging FBI missteps while surveilling Trump campaign operative,” Jan. 30 news story.
On Monday, the GOP majority on the House Select Committee on Intelligence invoked an obscure provision of House rules that purports to allow the committee to declassify national security information, pending a five-day period when the president can block release. The document in question, the so-called Nunes memo, is said to outline suspect measures taken by the Department of Justice and the FBI in obtaining a FISA warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The House rule involved, however, is itself unconstitutional — an attempt by one house of Congress to preempt what is the exclusive domain of the executive branch authority to classify and declassify national secrets. Rather than accede to this invasion of his authority, the president should direct the Department of Justice to seek an injunction against this illegal action by the House committee. If Congress wants the power claimed in this rule, it needs to pass a statute that properly establishes a congressional option for declassification. Without that legal basis, the committee’s action should be treated as a nullity.
David E. Skaggs, Longmont
The writer is a former Democratic congressman from Colorado. He was a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 1993-99.
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