Following a brief hiccup, all remaining holds or
threats of holds on the nomination of James
Clapper to be the next director of national intelligence are being cleared
up, and the expectation on Capitol Hill is that he will be confirmed by week's
end.
Yesterday, John
McCain's office said that the Arizona senator had placed a "hold" on the
Clapper nomination due to his outstanding request for specific information related
to intelligence program acquisitions oversight. Today, the senator's concerns appear
to be alleviated.
"This afternoon, Senator McCain received the report
from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that he first
requested nearly one year ago, and as a result he is releasing his hold on
General Clapper's nomination," his office said in a statement. "This report
confirms Senator McCain's longstanding concerns about the poor oversight and
cost overruns in intelligence technology programs."
The
Cable caught up with Senate Intelligence Committee
chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-CA,
who said that two other senators were holding up the nomination, committee
ranking Republican Kit Bond, R-MO,
and Tom Coburn, R-OK. The senators
wanted ODNI to deliver an overdue threat assessment on the prisoners being held
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Feinstein said Bond and Coburn's requests were being
fulfilled. "These concerns are being satisfied. They are connected to
information. Senator Bond should have his and I think Coburn's hold is connected
to Bond's," she said.
Bond's office denied he had a "hold" on the Clapper
nomination, a nomination Bond supported in a unanimous 15-0 committee vote last
week. But that's just a matter of semantics. Most holds are merely threats by
individual senators to oppose consenting to a full Senate vote. That has the
effect of "holding" the nomination, whether a formal "hold" is filed with the
Senate clerk's office or not.
Bond told The
Cable Tuesday that he is getting the information he desires.
"Today I talked to General Clapper and I'm pleased
the intelligence community is now working to provide the documents and access
that I -- and other members -- have been seeking and that they are required by
law to share with lawmakers," he said.
Coburn also denied he has a formal "hold" on Clapper
but said he was worried about the Guantánamo threat assessment.
"I think it's important that we look at the vast
number of people that have been released under the Bush administration and the
Obama administration from Guantánamo who are now trying to kill American
soldiers," he said. "And I think that information is due and the intelligence
committee ought to be getting it. So I am trying to do whatever I can to make
good decisions."
Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, D-MI, insisted that he and
the Obama administration are still trying to close the prison at Guantánamo and
that the threat assessment should help make that happen because it might
confirm that the Obama administration has done a better job than Bush in
selecting prisoners for release.
"I think it is useful to find out if that's correct,
and if so, what the success rate is attributed to, so we can build on that and
hopefully make a better identification of who's likely to go back to the
battlefield," Levin said. "I don't know what it has to do with Clapper,
though."
Levin said he would try to remove, both in
conference and on the floor, provisions in the defense authorization bill that
prohibit sending a number of detainees to specific countries and thwart the
administration's plans to relocate them to a federal prison in Illinois.
The defense authorization bill is being set up to
move in September, but might require GOP acquiescence to move forward. Unless
those provisions are removed, closing the Guantánamo prison will have to be
delayed further, Levin said. "We just can't seem to get it done."
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Josh Rogin reports on national security and foreign policy from the Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, the White House to Embassy Row, for The Cable.
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