Agencies begin limited Fort Hood briefings

The Obama administration on Tuesday limited the number of lawmakers it would brief on the circumstances surrounding the deadly shooting rampage earlier this month at Fort Hood, Texas, continuing a trend that has angered some lawmakers.

And even lawmakers who received the classified briefing said they are still seeking more information.

The administration abruptly canceled a briefing for all members of the House Intelligence Committee. Instead, the National Security Council offered briefings to the highest ranking House and Senate leaders and key committee chairmen and ranking members.

That follows a decision Monday to not provide witnesses for a public hearing that Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman and ranking member Susan Collins plan Thursday and to ask the Senate Armed Services Committee to postpone a hearing with top Army officials.

"I believe that they need to be more forthcoming and cooperate promptly and fully with congressional oversight," Collins said Tuesday.

When asked if the administration has been forthcoming with information, Senate Intelligence ranking member Christopher (Kit) Bond said, "We haven't had our questions answered yet."

House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes said he will push to have a briefing for all members of his committee before the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin said his panel will hold a closed session with Army leaders Wednesday.

Senators are likely to vent their frustrations publicly and ask pointed questions Wednesday when Attorney General Eric Holder appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, a Judiciary Committee member, said it would be "a mistake" for the hearing to become overly political.

"I do think that there are a lot of very painful learning experiences in this case," she said. "We have learned for the first time that ... there's real jeopardy within us, and within the American military and in this country."

After the House's classified briefing Tuesday, Armed Services ranking member Howard (Buck) McKeon said officials addressed his concerns about how accused gunman Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was promoted to his rank. But McKeon added that his concerns were not allayed and said he still wants more information.

"It would be nice to know a lot more," he said. "They're bending over backwards, I think, to protect the investigation. They don't want to jeopardize the investigation."

Reyes defended the administration, arguing that officials are still gathering information. Congress, he said, should not hold hearings until the administration has all the facts.

"There were obviously a lot of questions and there were questions that they don't have any information about," Reyes said. "So they're going through this systematically, which is what I think we want them to do."

Nonetheless, Republicans on the House Intelligence panel sent Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter Tuesday asking her to direct Reyes to launch a full investigation into what went wrong and what should be changed within the government.