Pentagon Restricting Testimony in Congress “The Pentagon has placed unprecedented restrictions on who can testify before Congress, reserving the right to bar lower-ranking officers, enlisted soldiers, and career bureaucrats from appearing before oversight committees or having their remarks transcribed, according to Defense Department documents. Robert L. Wilkie , a former Bush administration national security official who left the White House to become assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs last year, has outlined a half-dozen guidelines that prohibit most officers below the rank of colonel from appearing in hearings, restricting testimony to high-ranking officers and civilians appointed by President Bush.” (Boston Globe)Politics Could Cloud Election Panel’s Work “The six-person Federal Election Commission, which enforces campaign-finance laws, is entering the presidential election season with three temporary commissioners who have not been confirmed by the Senate, two commissioners whose terms have expired but who have not been replaced, and one vacancy. As a result, most of the commissioners who are now passing judgment on campaign-finance fights will also be looking ahead to their own confirmation battles — a process that threatens to intensify the politics surrounding an agency that was set up to resolve disputes over election rules in a bipartisan manner.” (Boston Globe)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=180868