Senate Intelligence Panel Moving Toward Transparency

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March 25, 2013

In a welcome move, the Senate Intelligence Committee said they will release information on how individual senators vote on measures and nominations before the committee, according to an article in Roll Call.

Previously, the committee had only released the vote totals from its closed-door sessions, effectively allowing senators to be able to dodge accountability for their vote. This move towards increased transparency has long been championed by the Project On Government Oversight, and it was long overdue.

From the article:

The Senate Intelligence Committee had been the only committee in Congress that did not release vote positions. The House Intelligence panel, as with all House panels, is obligated under House Rule XI to release vote records within 48 hours.

POGO’s Director of Public Policy Angela Canterbury was quoted in the article as saying, “Not everything they discuss is classified, and if it isn’t, it shouldn’t be kept secret from the American people.”

Read more at Roll Call.

Topics: Open Government

Related Content: Intelligence

Authors: Andre Francisco

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