So it turns out that we now have ten-man covert humint teams operating within the DIA -- that is, under the auspices of the DoD, though Larry "Curly Joe" DiRita insists in his eminently parsable syntax that they don't answer "directly" to Rumsfeld. Oh, well in that case, carry on.
In interviews, however, members of Congress from both parties questioned whether the secret missions being carried out by the units might amount to covert actions - a legal definition for missions in which the United States government denies any role and that can be undertaken only by presidential directive and with formal Congressional notification.
Some members also said the House and Senate intelligence committees had not been fully informed about the new approach, even though they oversee the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"To cut out Congress and set up an under-the-radar capability which Congress doesn't know about is not O.K.," Representative Jane Harman of California, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said in an interview.
Oh, it's cute when they act like they're supposed to be in the loop. Wait till Harman finds out we're still carpet-bombing Laos, just to stay in practice.
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