Sen. Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleySenate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Senators offer disaster tax relief bill Trump spikes political football with return of Big Ten season MORE (R-Iowa) is placing a hold on a key nominee to the CIA because the intelligence agency has failed to respond to his letters.

Grassley says he will not allow Courtney Elwood's nomination for CIA general counsel to move forward until he is satisfied.

Grassley wants a response to letters he sent in April 2014 and last month about declassifying two whistleblower notifications.

"More than 3 years have passed since my initial request, and I still have not received declassified versions of the documents or an explanation of why the documents have not been declassified," Grassley wrote.

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He argued that the notifications don't include any information about the CIA's methods and raise "serious policy implications, as well as potential constitutional separation-of-powers issues."

He added that "as a matter of respect, for a coequal branch of government my declassification request should be processed in a timely manner."

ADVERTISEMENT He added that his tactics weren't tied to Elwood, but "the CIA must recognize that it has an ongoing obligation to respond to congressional inquiries in a timely and reasonable manner."