WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday quietly held its annual worldwide threats hearing entirely behind closed doors for the first time in years, underscoring chairman Richard Burr’s intention to keep intelligence oversight close to the vest.
The hearing, which has traditionally been held at the beginning of each year, has served as one of the public’s few glimpses into the fiercely secret intelligence oversight process. Routinely featuring Washington’s most powerful spy chiefs, the hearing has also offered the public a rare opportunity to engage in the process: The packed meeting is routinely interrupted by protesters, and has been characterized by aggressive exchanges between lawmakers and witnesses from the intelligence community.
But Tuesday afternoon, the hallway outside the committee’s secure hearing spaces was relatively quiet as leaders of the nation’s security apparatus slipped through the frosted glass doors that separate the public from some of the nation’s most fiercely guarded secrets; Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Vincent Stewart were all part of the convoy.
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But the open portion of the hearing served a more practical purpose of letting the American people know that someone, at least, was watching the watchmen.
“Why on earth anyone would want that closed is hard to imagine,” Aftergood said.
