Not only that. Pete Hoekstra frequently complained that the Bush administration was withholding information from the Congressional intelligence oversight committees. Here's Hoekstra last May 2008 with Ros-Lehtinen:

The Constitution clearly articulates that Congress and the president are to be equal branches of government. The underlying assumption is that both would cooperate to ensure our nation's security, and do so with mutual respect.

Unfortunately, that has not always been the case. Regarding the current negotiations with the regime in North Korea to persuade it to abandon its nuclear weapons, the divide has rarely been greater. We regret to say the administration has deliberately attempted to sideline Congress in the fear that providing us with information about the North Korean regime's continuing lies and reckless behavior would undermine the current diplomatic approach.

Last October, we voiced our frustration regarding the administration's withholding from Congress information regarding a nuclear facility in Syria constructed with North Korean assistance. That facility fortunately was destroyed the previous month by an Israeli air strike, following which an almost total official silence was imposed.

Because this facility obviously had a direct bearing on the negotiations with North Korea, as well as on broader security issues, we believed it was crucial that all members of Congress be briefed as soon as possible so we could perform our constitutional responsibility to ensure the interests of the American people are protected.

However, the administration restricted its briefings to a handful of senior members of Congress, including the two of us, leaving in the dark the majority of those on the foreign relations and intelligence committees.

Last week, six months after we first called for Congress to be fully informed, the administration finally provided classified briefings to members of six House and Senate committees. ...

Sound familiar?

Indeed, this is an issue that Hoekstra regularly came together with the ranking HPSCI Democrat at the time, Jane Harman in recent years:

At a forum on reforming the intelligence community held at the elite Council on Foreign Relations in June, Harman and Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee, sat in facing chairs on the dais, their banter as well practiced as that of a long-married couple. "[The next administration has to] repair the relationship with Congress," Hoekstra told moderator Joseph J. Helman. "It is broken." "I actually agree with every single thing Peter said," Harman echoed, wryly leaving the Republican to do the Bush bashing. "I think the next administration needs to have a public dialogue…about a legal framework around all of our post-9/11 policies."

Don't remember Gingrich crying "treason" at the time, but maybe he just missed it.

Posted by Laura at May 19, 2009 05:37 PM