Hayden: Obama still 'holds key' on spy notifications

Former CIA Director Michael Hayden Tuesday said he does not believe that a major intelligence bill that President Obama signed into law earlier this month will fundamentally change how lawmakers are briefed on covert spy activities.

Hayden's remarks are a blow to congressional Democrats who hailed enactment of the fiscal 2010 intelligence authorization bill because it allows more lawmakers to be briefed about covert intelligence operations. Democrats fought for the provision to better ensure that the executive branch cannot hide activities from congressional oversight.

"I don't think it fundamentally changed the notification procedures," Hayden said, speaking at a forum hosted by the Washington-based Stimson Center.

Under the new law, Obama must provide all members of the Senate and House Intelligence committees with at least a general description of covert spy activities. But the president can restrict full details of activities to the so-called Gang of Eight for national-security reasons. The Gang of Eight refers to the top Democrats and Republicans on the Intelligence panels and the party leaders in both chambers.

Giving the president this discretion, Hayden said, means he "still holds the key" regarding which lawmakers are briefed.

The debate over changing congressional notification procedures was one of the most publicly contentious issues surrounding the intelligence bill and delayed its passage for months. Democrats, led by House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., were spurred to change notification procedures in the aftermath of the controversial use of enhanced interrogation techniques under the Bush administration.

The program included waterboarding, which is defined by international treaties as torture.

Weighing in on the issue, Hayden said that the enhanced interrogation program was effective and that it met the criteria needed, including an assurance that lawmakers were briefed on the effort. Hayden took over the CIA after the program was said to have ended.

But Pelosi and other Democrats say they were never briefed on the use of waterboarding. At one point, Pelosi accused the CIA of constantly misleading Congress.

Hayden argued Tuesday that it is in the best interest of intelligence officials to brief lawmakers on spy operations. "If you want people there at the crash, you've got to put them on the manifest," he said.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Hayden also said he is "in awe" of how sophisticated the Chinese government is in conducting espionage against the United States, adding that the Chinese have "a very strategic plan."

"It is something to behold," the retired Air Force lieutenant general said.

Hayden also spoke about the challenge of battling militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "This is about making our enemy believe time is not on their side," he noted.

To that end, he said that the Obama administration's announcement that it will begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan in July "makes it harder to do, but not impossible."