opinion

Intelligence community always suffers in the long term from its abuses

To comprehend the significance of the memos from James Comey when he was Director of the FBI and the findings by the House Intelligence Committee on the actions of the FBI and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in issuing three wiretap warrants for the Trump campaign, these must be viewed in a long-term historical perspective, not from a short-term political vantage point.

Without transgressions by the FBI and CIA, there would not be a House nor a Senate Intelligence Committee.

The FBI was founded in 1908, the CIA in 1947, and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in 1976 as part of the Congressional response to Watergate. Whenever the American intelligence community abuses the deference granted by Congress, there is a significant blowback. Count on that for the FBI and the FISA Court matters.

The Founding Fathers intended for Congress to be the most powerful branch of government, which is why it can tax, spend and investigate so as to legislate responsibly. It is also why the House of Representatives, where all new taxes must originate, is up for election every two years, as opposed to the President every four, and Senators six. Legislation can be expected as result of the actions by the FBI and FISA Court on the warrants for the Trump campaign that will increase the oversight of each by Congress.

Historically, there is significant latitude for the activities of the intelligence community.

Much of this is justified, but when it is abused, expanded Congressional oversight is the result. The Constitution requires this to maintain the checks and balances intrinsic for a democracy. The most obvious here is the creation of dedicated committees in both Houses of Congress back in 1976 specifically to oversee the intelligence community. Congress has traditionally deferred to the FISA Court issuing warrants, with that obviously deferring to the evidence brought by FBI agents seeking a wiretap as almost all have been approved (98%).

The dubious nature of the dossier files that resulted in the wiretap warrants brings into question every one ever issued by the FISA Court, as it should.

These wiretaps deal with the most basic right of an American citizen, that of privacy. Files violating this have always resulted in an immediate and impassioned response from Capitol Hill, which is why members of Congress are elected as public servants. The most obvious example was the files kept by legendary FBI Director J.Edgar Hoover on Americans such as Dr. Martin Luther King. In the Clinton Administration, the treatment of FBI files on political appointees led to a Congressional investigation that resulted in resignations. Hoover was Director of the FBI for 48 years. Due to the abuses of power by Hoover, Congress limited it to 10 years.

It is always best to work with Congressional committees as the power of the legislative branch in investigations is limited only for cases of national security in very sensitive cases.

As has happened many times before, the FBI chose not to take this route. Some documents have been provided, but others legitimately and properly requested by the House Intelligence Committee still have not. Congress got what it wanted for some, as eventually and inevitably happens, and now the FBI is on the defensive with much more adverse action from Capitol Hill to be expected. Many called the FISA warrant memo a "nothing burger," so it's tough to see any national security concerns here to check Congress as it advances in procuring additional documents.

The intelligence community always suffers in the long term from its abuses.

Who can forget New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the early 1980s, resigning in 1984 due to the rogue actions of the CIA in Central America, and then introducing legislation in 1991 and again in 1995 to abolish it? It is the irresistible forces of history that direct the long-term fate of any entity, be it an individual or an intelligence agency, not irresponsible actions focused on short-term gains. Voltaire stated that one's character is their fate, which is why the intelligence community, yet again, is confronted with expanded oversight from Congress as a result of its transgressions, this time for the FBI and the FISA Court.

Jonathan Yates was general counsel for a publicly traded corporation and deputy general counsel for a full committee in Congress.