While media attention has been focused on the ongoing Washington soap opera starring CIA personalities Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, Mary McCarthy, and Porter Goss, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, and disgraced U.S. Representative Duke Cunningham, little analysis has been devoted to an important piece of legislation recently passed in the U.S. House: H.R. 5020, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007.

What could be more boring and unsexy than that? No wonder this one came and went without a peep from the pantheon of talking heads who are "lookin' out for" us little guys. Sponsored by our friend Rep. Peter Hoekstra [R-MI], the bill passed in the House on May 28th, 327 to 96, with 9 abstentions. This legislation authorizes appropriations for our nation's various intelligence activities for the coming year. Oh, and it grants powers of arrest to agents of the CIA and NSA.

Ah nostalgia. Not since the days of the Soviet KGB could a government agency monitor citizens without judicial oversight, hold them without habeas corpus, and deny it all because of 'national security.'

Specifically, section 423, “Additional Functions and Authorities for the Protective Personnel of the Central Intelligence Agency,” proposes that:

(a) The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency may issue regulations to allow personnel designated to carry out executive protection functions...to, while engaged in such protective functions, make arrests without a warrant for any offense against the United States committed in the presence of such personnel, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States, if such personnel have probable cause to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing that felony offense.

Thankfully the authors put in this provision:

(b) The powers granted under subsection (a) may be exercised only in accordance with guidelines approved by the Attorney General.

Phew! Good thing they won't be able to anything the Attorney General wouldn't approve of...erm...yeah.

But hey, at least we've got leakers and whistle blowers inside the agencies to disclose abuses of these new powers, right? Why worry? Oh wait...section 413 of this bill is titled "Study On Revoking Pensions Of Persons Who Commit Unauthorized Disclosures Of Classified Information."

So when considering whether active duty Air Force General Michael Hayden is the right person to head the CIA just remember this: This isn't your father's CIA. Rep. Hoekstra, the honorable gentleman from Michigan, sponsored this bill and knows the powers it grants. If he says General Hayden is the "wrong person" at the "wrong time" for this position, I'm inclined to agree.

Labels: Alberto Gonzales, Brent Wilkes, Duke Cunningham, Extraordinary Rendition, General Michael Hayden, Kyle Dusty Foggo, Mary McCarthy, Peter Hoekstra, Porter Goss