• US Congress struggling to get data on CIA rendition programme
• UK parliament faces tougher battle12 March 2014 - The contrast could scarcely be more stark.
In the US, the chairwoman of the US Senate intelligence committee, Dianne Feinstein, berates the CIA, accusing it of cover ups and intimidation. She accused it on Tuesday of removing information from computers relating to the senate committee's inquiry into the CIA's detention programme - to be blunt, torture.
"I have grave concerns", said Feinstein, "that the CIA's search may well have violated the separation of powers principle embodied in the United States Constitution".
Here in Britain, there is no such equivalent lawmakers' committee to call into account MI6, or MI5, or GCHQ. The membership of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) , currently chaired by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a former Conservative defence and foreign secretary, has to be approved by the prime minister and judging by its performance it is essentially a creature of the executive.
So much for the separation of powers here. read more>>>
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