WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley has asked the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to declassify two Congressional Notifications to allow a full public debate regarding the notices.
 
            In a letter to John Brennan, the Director of the CIA, and James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, Grassley wrote that the notifications do not appear to contain information about sources or methods that might justify classified status and there would be a “strong public interest in their content.”   Grassley asked that the Congressional Notifications be declassified, “so that the serious policy implications and potential Constitutional issues that they raise can be debated publicly.”
 
            Here is a copy of the text of the letter.  A copy of the signed letter can be found here.
 
April 14, 2014

VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

The Honorable John O. Brennan        Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper
Director                                           Director of National Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency              Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Washington, D.C. 20505                  Washington, D.C. 20511
                                
Dear Director Brennan and Director Clapper:

Recently, the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community sent two Congressional Notifications (CNs) to Capitol Hill.  The first, sent on March 28, 2014, had the unclassified subject line “Whistleblower Communications.”  The second, sent March 31, 2014, had the unclassified subject line “Whistleblower Communications – Clarification.”  Both documents were classified Secret/NOFORN.

Please provide copies of all documents referenced in the CNs to the Committee, including both Chairman and Ranking Member, no later than Monday, April 21, 2014.  To the extent that such documents are classified, please deliver them to the Office of Senate Security.  In addition, please make available for a briefing the appropriate agency staff familiar with the facts and circumstances described in the CN no later than Wednesday, April 23, 2014.

Given that the CNs themselves do not appear to contain any information about sources or methods, and given that there would be a strong public interest in their content, I respectfully request that they be declassified as soon as possible so that the serious policy implications and potential Constitutional issues that they raise can be debated publicly.  If you choose not to declassify these two documents, please provide the Committee with a detailed written explanation as to why not no later than Wednesday, April 23, 2014.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley
Ranking Member

cc:    The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman
         U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein, Chairman
U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

The Honorable Saxby Chambliss, Vice Chairman
U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

The Honorable David Buckley, Inspector General
Central Intelligence Agency

The Honorable I. Charles McCullough, III
Inspector General of the Intelligence Community

Michael P. DiSilvestro, Director
U.S. Senate, Office of Senate Security