THREAD: In @SenatorLeahy's new memoir, there's a wild story in it that I haven't ever seen before—a rare glimpse into the shadowy way that the intel agencies interact with Members of Congress. It feels ripped from a political thriller movie...: phoenixbooks.biz/book/978198215…
1) In the midst of the Iraq War debate, Leahy was one of the few Senators pushing back against the Bush admin race to war and the threats of WMDs. He'd been reading the classified intel that the Bush admin was providing to Congress and had real doubts that it justified war....
2) The Sunday after he read the intel, he was out walking with his wife in his McLean neighborhood when "two fit joggers trailed behind us. They stopped and asked what I thought of the intelligence briefings I'd been getting."...
3) The joggers asked Leahy if the briefers had showed him "File Eight"? Leahy writes, "It was obvious from the look on my face that I had not seen such a file. They suggested I should and that I might find it interesting."....
4) Leahy went back to the intel officers at the Capitol SCIF and requested "File Eight," and it contradicted what the Bush administration was saying publicly about the WMDs....
5) A few days later, Leahy and his wife are out walking in the neighborhood again and the same two joggers pass by, stop, and say, basically, “We heard you read Five Eight. Isn’t it interesting? Now you should ask for File Twelve” ….
6) [[Leahy explained to me when I asked him about this incident this month that "File Eight" and "File Twelve" are pseudonyms for specific secret codeword names the joggers told him to ask for.]] ....
7) The next day, Leahy again goes to the Capitol SCIF and asks for "File Twelve." It again contradicts what VP Cheney was saying publicly. Leahy decides to vote against the war based on these secret reports and tips...
8) I asked @SenatorLeahy about this incident when I interviewed him at @BearPondBooks earlier this month, if he knew the joggers ever, and he said, "You don't understand—I didn't *want* to know who they were." …
9) tl;dr: Leahy ends up voting against the war because some corner of the intel world tracked when he was out exercising, intercepted him, and pointed him to secret intelligence reports.
Anyway, @SenatorLeahy's memoir is really good. get it here: phoenixbooks.biz/book/978198215…
Anyway, @SenatorLeahy's memoir is really good. get it here: phoenixbooks.biz/book/978198215…
10) one question I have after this story: I assume Leahy wasn’t the only targeted Senator? Might be worth asking other Senators who voted against the war, did they get visits from similar joggers?
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