Treason’s first cousin: ‘Heads should roll’

Senator Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, seems to think it’s just spiffy if his staffers sabotage the war on terrorism.

As long as they’re plotting to politicize intelligence for partisan reasons and leak secrets to the press to undermine President Bush.

Responding to the scandal over a memo his staffers wrote to that effect, Rockefeller instead defended the plot and blamed Republicans for swiping the document out of the trash.

The conspiracy to abuse secret intelligence as part of the 2004 presidential campaign, he says, merely "reflects staff frustration with the conduct of the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation and the difficulties of obtaining information from the administration."

Rockefeller admitted that one of his three staffers wrote the memo.

Senator Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat, is appalled. "Of all the committees, this is the one single committee that should unquestionably be above partisan politics," he said. "The information it deals with should never, never be distorted, compromised or politicized."

"If what has happened here is not treason, it is its first cousin. The ones responsible – be they staff or elected or both – should be dealt with quickly and severely," Miller added. "Heads should roll!"

"Beginning with Rockefeller’s," chimed a New York Post editorial.

We agree. The Center for Security Policy reminds readers that Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) was forced off the Intelligence Committee for a much lesser offense.

Said Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), "First, Democrats sought to blame an unnamed staffer for this memo, saying it had never been approved by any Senators. Next they tried to argue the memo’s merits without accepting responsibility for it. Then, on CNN, Senator Rockefeller attributed it to his three staffers but claimed it was just one ‘option’ or ‘idea’ adding, ‘I disavow nothing.’"

The committee chairman, Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), says he feels burned after having worked so closely with Rockefeller. Yet he’s pre-emptively eager to mend fences with those bent on abusing the intelligence oversight process for political gain.

Click here for the full text of Senator Rockefeller’s staff memo.