Who could see ALL the intelligence?

Bush and Cheney have decided that rewriting history is only for them. The top talking point this week is "everybody " saw the same intel they saw. Wrong. During the October 9, 2001 daily briefing the White House memo which limited who would be "allowed" to see classified intelligence was discussed. From the memo: The only Members of Congress whom you or your expressly designated officers may brief regarding classified or sensitive law enforcement information are the Speaker of the House, the House Minority Leader, the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders, and the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Intelligence Committees in the House and Senate. From: Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer The James S. Brady Briefing Room October 9, 2001 MR. FLEISCHER: It's a question of the determination made by the President that in a time of war, the usual rules do not apply, and that the President is going to err on the side of protecting lives, so that inadvertent information -- inadvertent release of information cannot occur. Q I understand that point completely, but they were being briefed at the beginning. MR. FLEISCHER: And that requires necessarily a tightening of the circle about who has access to all this information that I described. It does not mean that members of Congress will not continue to receive information; they will continue to receive information. And the President makes that perfectly plain in his memo to the agencies when he said that we will continue to inform the leadership in our critical military intelligence law enforcement operations. But I remind you, even in peacetime, not every member of Congress had access to every bit of classified information. Q Yes, but you did pull back; that was John's point. Q Because the President was not happy -- MR. FLEISCHER: Absolutely. I acknowledge it. It's plain as the memo reads -- Q You pulled back because the President was not happy? MR. FLEISCHER: -- that the circle has been diminished, because the President is going to make certain that every step is taken to protect lives from the inadvertent release of information. That's correct. Q And the upshot of it is that the conduct of the war policy and its oversight is now being done by the Executive Branch and six members of Congress? MR. FLEISCHER: The information-sharing on the matters that are described in this memo will be available to six members of Congress -- actually, it's eight. Q Sorry -- the congressional role of its contribution to the war policy and its oversight is now going to have to fall into the hands of those eight people? MR. FLEISCHER: I think the President is very satisfied with the sharing of information and the decision he's made. Q Does this cover information about the possibility of threats of attacks on American soil, or is it just about overseas military? MR. FLEISCHER: It's information that is classified in nature. I can read it to you again, if you want -- consistent with -- Q Any classified information? MR. FLEISCHER: Let me read -- I think you have copies of the memo, so you can take a look and read it for yourself. But the memo makes clear it's classified information. Q It seems to be any classified information. So that's anything that the White House decides should be classified and they don't want to share with Congress. MR. FLEISCHER: The classification decisions are made by the appropriate intelligence officials. And, again, the President is going to make certain that this information is provided to the Congress so the people who need to know it will have full ability to have it, and he wants to make certain that the circle is diminished, so that nothing inadvertent can happen. Q Isn't it a huge shift of power to the Executive Branch? MR. FLEISCHER: That's correct -- that's what the President has decided.