The CIA and other agencies involved in covert operations should be forced to release information

I am assuming this debate pertains to covert US agencies. Furthermore, I will not defend the position that covert agencies must be forced to release ALL information, as this is patently ridiculous. What I will defend is that covert agencies should not be exempt from Congressional oversight, which necessarily requires some degree of transparency and the power to demand information. 1&2) I am grouping these arguments together because they are essentially the same. i. Whether the public would or would not approve is irrelevant to the debate. The only relevant issue is whether or not releasing information would hinder investigations and whether or not this outweighs the benefits of departmental transparency. ii. As a pre-emptive argument: disapproval of tactics would not necessarily force covert agencies into changing their tactics. An example of this would be the current controversy over the use of water boarding as an interrogation tactic. Much of the public and many politicians do not approve of this tactic but we have not seen an immediate cessation of water boarding as a method of interrogation. What we have seen is widespread public debate over the issue. iii. If the public and politicians would disapprove of covert agency tactics, perhaps we should be asking the question "what are they doing that would incur so much disapproval?" 3) i. I am confused as to how your argument is supposed to work. If the CIA were stopping Russia from smuggling enriched uranium, wouldn't Russia be aware of it? Is your argument simply that if foreign countries knew the CIA and other covert agencies were working against them, they would disapprove? Please explain exactly how the CIA being forced to release information would cause international disapproval. ii. There is no impact to this claim. So what if foreign countries disapprove of covert agencies conduct? How does this matter? This argument has no impact and cant be evaluated in this round. iii. Foreign countries already disapprove of the US for other reasons such as the war in Iraq. The international disapproval we have received because of Iraq overwhelms whatever disapproval we would receive if the international community found out about our covert activity. 4) i. Saying that operations would be compromised is a broad statement which cant be evaluated. Which operations? To what degree would the be compromised? What is the effect of this? In short, your lack of specifics makes this argument impossible to evaluate. ii. This argument is only true in certain circumstances. There is plenty of information the public should know that would not compromise operations. Intelligence sharing can be conducted in a manner such that only pertinent information is revealed and specifics such as names, dates and locations remain confidential. Other practices such as giving grace periods for producing information allows covert agencies time to wrap up operations before handing over information. Congressional and public investigations are generally understanding of the need for a degree of confidentiality. New arguments: 5) i. The only way to prevent abuse of power is to instill checks and balances. This is a fundamental principle of our government. The ability for the public and Congress to demand transparency from covert agencies is the only way to put a check on these agencies. Without oversight, there would be no way to know what sort of activities these agencies engage in. ii. Covert agencies HAVE committed abuses of power in the past. Source: Nojeim '05 [Gregory, Chief Legislative Council, American Civil Liberties Union, Testimony before the Committee on Senate Select Intelligence, April 19, p. l/n, accessed 5/12/05] The special power to secretly search a home or office, without ever notifying the owner, is among the most intrusive domestic surveillance powers available to the federal government. Such "black bag jobs" were the hallmark of national security investigations run amok, including COINTELPRO and other investigations of civil rights activists, anti-war activists, and other Americans who in the end were guilty of nothing more than peacefully opposing government policies. The inappropriate use of a secret search power, without court oversight, led directly to warrantless wiretaps of civil rights leaders and, eventually, an unauthorized "black bag job" at the Watergate, sending a shock wave through the nation and prompting thorough and searching reviews of the intelligence community. iii. Oversight is necessary to keep intelligence gathering methods in check. Methods such as torture, unwarranted search and seizure, seizing people and holding them without trial (especially citizens of the U.S.). 6) The public and especially Congress needs information to set policies. In order to properly judge how to spend money and alter security related policies, Congress needs as much information as possible. It is foolish to expect the legislative body of the US to function effectively without the ability to retrieve whatever information it needs. The public needs information in order to vote in an informed fashion. The activity of covert agencies like the CIA reflect the actions of the president and other elected officials. Knowing what these agencies are doing is important to gauge how well the executive branch is doing its job.