Wampum

The New York Times reports that just 14 Senators and Congressmen were briefed about the domectic eavesdropping program. Those were oral briefings when the National Security Act requires written briefings.

The limited oral briefings provided by the White House to a handful of lawmakers about the domestic eavesdropping program may not have fulfilled a legal requirement under the National Security Act that calls for such reports to be in written form, Congressional officials from both parties said on Tuesday...

All told, no more than 14 members of Congress have been briefed about the program since it took effect in 2001, the Congressional officials said. Now lawmakers from both parties are debating whether those members-only briefings provided a sufficient basis for oversight of an activity that is only now coming under intense Congressional scrutiny.

"You can't have the administration and a select number of members alter the law," Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who heads the Judiciary Committee, said this week. "It can't be done."

Who are those 14 and what do they say about the briefings and whether or not they knew that the administration was spying on American citizens?

Senator Rockefeller of the Senate Intelligence Committee had reservations about the eavesdropping program and did not understand it.

Nancy Pelosi had reservations about the program and want to release a letter she wrote at the time expressing those reservations. Presently, the letter remains classified.

Former Majority Leader Daschle says he was not told the scope of the program.

Current Minority Leader Harry Reid says he received only a "single, very short briefing" on the subject.

Former Senator Bob Graham, the former head of the Intelligence Committee say that he does not recall being told that the program would involve eavesdropping on Americans.

Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says he knew the program would have an impact on Americans.

That is six of the fourteen. The others are Senate Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts, Richard Shelby, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Former Majority Leader Trent Lott, current majority leader Bill Frist, House Speaker Denny Hastert, Peter Goss, head of the CIA and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harmon (D-Cal) of the House Intelligence Committee, and Dick Gephardt, former House Minority leader.

Pat Roberts says that the program "is consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution" and that he has been regularly briefed.

Senator Shelby said "I happen to believe that some of the intercepts since Sept. 11 probably have thwarted, saved some lives ... we're at war. We want to protect our constitutional rights ... but we're at war." As far as I can tell, has not addressed the issue of the adequacy of the briefing he received.

Trent Lott "defended the NSA directive saying 'I don't agree with the libertarians. I want my security first. I'll deal with all the details after that'."
He also said that " he had only glanced at the Times article. 'If I were really concerned, I would have read it'." No word from Lott on any briefings he received.

Bill Frist is not sure whether or not there should be Senate hearings on the matter and does not seem to have addressed the issue of the briefings he received.

Denny Hastert does not seem to have addressed the issue and I find no statement by Jane Harmon or Dick Gephardt. I do not expect Goss to comment.

With the President arguing that members of Congress were kept informed about the program, it really is time for the press to ask each and every member of congress who received such a briefing whether they knew that the administration was spying on Americans, if they think that is legal, and what they intend to do, if anything, about it.