Of the 433 members of Congress listed on Roll Call, only 143 of them were even in Congress when the
Patriot Act was passed. So, 75% of Congress weren't even in the know to begin with. Of the 25% who were, only a handful were picked to be in the know, as in, selected as important enough to know. The few others who kinda know a little bit maybe are members who were not first-hand parties to the goings-on, but rather those who just received a few briefings here and there.
Now, looking over the list of just 143 members who might have a chance of knowing something, I am looking for names that stick out, since I don't have the info about who was actually in those meetings at hand. I see quite a few names I just don't really recognize, for whatever reason, and I see a few names that I just barely kinda have heard of. Here are some names in particular that might know something about NSA spying:
Mike Rogers, R, Michigan
Darrell Issa, R, California
Eric Cantor, R, Virginia
Paul D. Ryan,R, Wisconsin
A fair mix of Democrats and Republicans are on the list of 143. But then I look at their seniority dates...Even with heavy-hitting names such as those I just listed, it's really not possible that they knew much, is it? All of them were fairly new to Washington, I'm not sure they would be considered insider enough to have been briefed? I mean with the exception of Ryan, all were elected in 2001, and Ryan in 99, so it's not exactly like they would have been power players at that time, and I distinctly remember that only a few could be in the know, and those few were supposed to kind of brief others on a need-to-know basis.
Further perusing the list, in order to narrow it down to just those with 5 years experience in Congress, I have to narrow the list to just 87 people that could have possibly maybe been briefed. Elijah Cummings was elected in 96, so he had 5 years in on 9/11. Do you supposed he was senior enough at that time to get a full briefing?
More names: Peter King, R, New York. Spencer Bacchus, R, Ala. Inquiring minds want to know how all this spying could be going on and yet no one knows anything, but a quick look at the actual facts reveals that attrition alone accounts for much of the lack of knowledge. What do you guys think, am I thinking right on this?
*On edit: I realize the NSA spying didn't necessarily coincide with 9/11, and developed out of what was to come. I just did this exercise on first the general Patriot Act as passed in 2001 to kinda look at who might have known what.
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