Demand Progress, allies call for independent investigation into alleged foreign involvement in 2016 election and for strengthening of HPSCI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2017
Contact: Daniel Schuman, 202-792-4550
[email protected]
Demand Progress, joined by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Center for Media and Democracy, CREDO, Government Accountability Project, National Security Counselors, Sunlight Foundation, and X-Lab, today call on Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to establish an independent investigation into alleged foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election and to strengthen the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (“HPSCI”). The letter is available here.
Recent actions, including by HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), have revealed that the House’s current investigation is neither independent nor trusted by the public. The committee itself no longer functions as was intended when the House created it in the late 1970s. Congress must act to fix and strengthen HPSCI. In September 2016, a bipartisan coalition of 33 organizations wrote to House leadership with recommendations on how to strengthen congressional oversight of the intelligence community.
Demand Progress policy director Daniel Schuman said:
“The dysfunction in the House Intelligence Committee is a symptom of broader dysfunction in congressional oversight of the intelligence community. That’s why a broad bipartisan coalition of organizations called for major reforms, including empowering individual members of the House Intelligence Committee, strengthening Congress’s ability to engage in these issues, and instituting a top-to-bottom review of how Congress conducts oversight and how the intelligence community has operated in an era of weak oversight. HPSCI has stopped doing its job and urgently needs reform.”
###