Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/calls-intensify-for-investigation-into-bush-era-cia-program Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Democrats are demanding a fresh investigation into whether the Bush administration failed to brief Congress on the existence of a secret program to target, capture, or kill al-Qaida operatives. Gwen Ifill examines the story with two journalists. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. JIM LEHRER: And still to come on the NewsHour tonight: how the economic downturn is affecting the price of milk; and making it easier to organize unions.That all follows new concerns about Bush administration-era intelligence practices. Gwen Ifill has that story. GWEN IFILL: Democrats are demanding fresh investigation into whether the Bush administration failed to brief Congress on the existence of a secret program to target, capture, or kill al-Qaida operatives.SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), Illinois: To have a massive program that is concealed from the leaders in Congress is not only inappropriate, it could be illegal. GWEN IFILL: News reports suggest the program, constructed shortly after the September 11th attacks, was never operational. Nevertheless, CIA Director Leon Panetta told lawmakers he shut the program down after he learned about it just last month. This has not mollified many Intelligence Committee members.Democrat Dianne Feinstein said Panetta told him that former Vice President Cheney had ordered the program kept secret.SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), California: And I think that, if the Intelligence Committees had been briefed, they could have watched the program. They could have asked for regular reports on the program. They could have made judgments about the program as it went along. That was not the case because we were kept in the dark. That's something that should never, ever happen again. GWEN IFILL: Republicans say such investigations would put the nation's intelligence agencies at risk, and the Obama administration has resisted launching investigations into CIA practices and detainee interrogation. ROBERT GIBBS, White House Press Secretary: The president believes that Congress should always be briefed fully and in a timely manner in accordance with the law. GWEN IFILL: But as pressures have continued to build, Newsweek reported this weekend that Attorney General Eric Holder is close to appointing a special prosecutor to investigate whether CIA operatives tortured terror suspects.