Congressman criticizes Bush on undercover activities

WASHINGTON — A high-ranking Republican lashed out at President Bush on Sunday, suggesting that the White House may have broken the law by failing to inform Congress of a "major" intelligence program and other undercover activities.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House intelligence committee, complained that he had received a briefing from the Bush administration on several intelligence programs only after learning of them from a whistle-blower.

"It is not optional for this president ... not to keep the intelligence committees fully informed of what they are doing," said Hoekstra, who revealed no details of the intelligence efforts during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."

Alex Conant, a White House spokesman, declined to comment on the programs but said the administration would "continue to work closely with the chairman and other congressional leaders on important national-security issues."

Hoekstra's charges follow months of controversy over the public disclosure of administration intelligence efforts in suspected terrorism cases, such as the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping in the U.S. and monitoring international bank transfers.

Although Hoekstra had been informed of those initiatives, he wrote a letter to Bush in May in which he complained of being kept in the dark on several undisclosed programs.

Hoekstra, a close White House ally, told Bush that the failure to disclose the information "may represent a breach of responsibility by the administration, a violation of law, and just as importantly, a direct affront to me and the members of this committee."

"The U.S. Congress simply should not have to play 'Twenty Questions' to get the information that it deserves under the constitution," Hoekstra wrote in the letter, disclosed by The New York Times.

Hoekstra said Sunday that a whistle-blower had stepped forward to alert the committee about the intelligence efforts.

"There are lots of programs going on in the intelligence community. You know, we can't be briefed on every little thing that they are doing," Hoekstra said. "But in this case, there was at least one major — what I consider significant — activity that we had not been briefed on."

Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., the ranking minority member of the intelligence panel, said in a statement: "Vigorous congressional oversight is impossible unless the administration shares critical information with the appropriate committees of Congress. No one is above the law, and the law requires that the intelligence committees be fully and currently briefed on all intelligence programs of our government."