Here's something I learned in the last week I didn't know: the Senate Intelligence Committee that Wyden sits on has explicit authority to de-classify anything it sees fit. All it takes is a majority vote.
Not sure if that's ever happened, or if any senator on the committee has asked the committee to even vote on declassification. Now might be a good time to start asking those questions.
Also, as much as the committee is supposed to have access to everything that is classified, in practice this is not the case, there have been a few cases where information was only shared from the Executive to the leaders of the majority party in each legislative body. I believe (but this is wild speculation) that there have also been cases where individual senators have asked for material and have been rejected. It's not as if each senator can go and look at whatever they want.
What's been happening in practice is that these committees are a sieve; information gets out via political leaks. So there's a big trust problem between the intelligence agencies and the legislature.
Finally, as much as "National Security" is trotted out as a reason not for elected representatives to talk to the people, constitutionally I'm not so sure that the executive can bind the legislature not to talk in any way it sees fit. What's the president going to do? Start arresting and imprisoning senators? Not happening. Another case where somebody, anybody just needs to stand up and do their job.
So there's the way things are constructed to appear, and there's the way things actually work. It's good to know both.
"...shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace,..."
Leaking classified documents is a felony, and potentially could be construed as treason. Since the executive decides what is or isn't classified, it looks to me like they clearly can restrict the speech of legislators, regardless of time or place.
Unless, as was alluded to elsewhere, the Senate Intelligence Committee votes to declassify those specific topics first.
Read it again. That clause does not apply to the relevant portion:
"...shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their attendance at the Session of their Respective Houses, and in going to and from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place."
Facing such charges, they would not "be privileged from Arrest during their attendance at the Session of their Respective House", but charging them with a crime seems quite clearly to be "questioning" them for "Speech [...] in either House" when that crime entailed nothing but disclosure of information in the record of the respective body.
"Here's something I learned in the last week I didn't know: the Senate Intelligence Committee that Wyden sits on has explicit authority to de-classify anything it sees fit. All it takes is a majority vote."
"...But the classification barrier may not be as watertight as committee members make it out to be. Senate Resolution 400, which established the intelligence committee in 1976, has a section specifically devoted to committee oversight of the classification system, which is directed by the executive branch. If a member of the committee feels that classified information is of valid public interest, he or she can ask that it be declassified.
“The Select Committee may, subject to provisions of this section, disclose publicly any information in the possession of such committee after a determination by such committee that the public interest would be served by such a disclosure,” the resolution reads..."
Here's something I learned in the last week I didn't know: the Senate Intelligence Committee that Wyden sits on has explicit authority to de-classify anything it sees fit. All it takes is a majority vote.
Not sure if that's ever happened, or if any senator on the committee has asked the committee to even vote on declassification. Now might be a good time to start asking those questions.
Also, as much as the committee is supposed to have access to everything that is classified, in practice this is not the case, there have been a few cases where information was only shared from the Executive to the leaders of the majority party in each legislative body. I believe (but this is wild speculation) that there have also been cases where individual senators have asked for material and have been rejected. It's not as if each senator can go and look at whatever they want.
What's been happening in practice is that these committees are a sieve; information gets out via political leaks. So there's a big trust problem between the intelligence agencies and the legislature.
Finally, as much as "National Security" is trotted out as a reason not for elected representatives to talk to the people, constitutionally I'm not so sure that the executive can bind the legislature not to talk in any way it sees fit. What's the president going to do? Start arresting and imprisoning senators? Not happening. Another case where somebody, anybody just needs to stand up and do their job.
So there's the way things are constructed to appear, and there's the way things actually work. It's good to know both.