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 Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, complained that only after he had learned of several intelligence programs from a whistle-blower did he receive a briefing on them from the Bush administration.
"It is not optional for this president, or any president or people in the executive community, not to keep the intelligence committees fully informed of what they are doing," said Hoekstra, who revealed no details of the programs, during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."
White House spokesman Alex Conant 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 key administration anti-terrorism efforts, such as the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping of people in the United States and the monitoring of international bank transfers.
Hoekstra, who had been informed of those initiatives, wrote a letter to Bush in May -- disclosed in Sunday's editions of the New York Times, complaining of being kept in the dark on several undisclosed programs.
A close White House ally, Hoekstra 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 our Constitution," Hoekstra wrote.
Hoekstra also complained in the letter about the selection of the new No. 2 official at the CIA, Stephen R. Kappes, and about the growth of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which is supposed to coordinate U.S. intelligence-gathering activities.
"I am concerned that the current implementation is creating a large, bureaucratic and hierarchical structure that will be less flexible and agile than our adversaries," Hoekstra wrote.
Hoekstra said Sunday that a whistle-blower had alerted the committee to the intelligence efforts. He said he then asked for the briefing by referring to the programs' code names.
