The spies know what's good for us

Have you ever heard of Senate Resolution 400? It established the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. One of the sections of the resolution gives the committee the power to disclose classified material if it deems "that the public interest would be served by such disclosure”.  The committee has never tried to act on this.  In fact, some of the members of the committee, including Wyden, were unaware of the provision.

But the committee does not like to offend the security professionals.  It spent years and $40 million investigating the CIA’s so-called harsh interrogation program, which included waterboarding, secret prisons and allegations of torture. The committee’s current chair, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has called it the committee’s most comprehensive and important oversight to date. So why has it not been released to us?