Watch Gen. Hayden’s message this morning at his CIA confirmation hearing: “CIA needs to get out of the news.” Open thread here.

Meanwhile, Democrats have been screaming and pouting about not being briefed on the NSA’s terrorism surveillance programs. Nancy Pelosi complained:

Nancy Pelosi explained to a group of progressive journalists about a week before the latest NSA stories came out, the briefings have been so heavily classified as to make it hard for Democrats to ignore that characterization, but if the briefings have been so regular, why won’t the administration release the dates and lengths of these allegedly regular briefings?”

Well, bluff called. The administration has released the docs and I’m posting them here in full (click here for full-size):

The breakdown of pols and number of briefings since October 2001:

SENATE

Intelligence Committee members:

The current chairman, Pat Roberts, R-Kan: 10.
The top Democrat, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia: eight.
A former chairman, now-retired Bob Graham, D-Fla.: four.
A former chairman, Richard Shelby, R-Ala.: four.
Mike DeWine, R-Ohio: two.
Orrin Hatch, R-Utah: two.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. two.
Carl Levin, D-Mich.: two.
Kit Bond, R-Mo.: two.

Other senators:

Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.: two.
Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.: two.
Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska: one.
Top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii: one.
A former minority leader, now-retired Tom Daschle, D-S.D.: one.

HOUSE

Intelligence Committee members:

The top Democrat, Jane Harman of California: eight.
A former chairman, now-retired Porter Goss, R-Fla.: seven.
The current chairman, Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich.: seven.
Heather Wilson. R-N.M.: three.
John McHugh, R-N.Y.: two.
Mike Rogers, R-Mich.: two.
Mac Thornberry, R-Texas: two.
Rush Holt, D-N.J.: two.
Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.: two.
Jo Ann Davis, R-Va.: one.
Bud Cramer, D-Ala.: one.
Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa: one.

Other representatives:

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.: six.
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.: three.
Chairman of the Appropriations Committee’s defense panel, Bill Young, R-Fla.: two.
The defense panel’s top Democrat, John Murtha of Pennsylvania: two.
Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas: one.

The blabbermouths at USA Today whine that members who were briefed about classified information were “gagged” and prevented from broadcasting the content of the briefings to the media and al Qaeda.

John Gibson’s word:

This is important because Democrats have been screaming bloody murder about this program for the six months that it has been known publicly. They have been saying the president is spying on Americans; that the president is abusing the Constitution; that the president is exceeding his authority; that the president has run amok.

…Also, for a little context here, it should be noted that Britain has recently discovered that there are 700 active Al Qaeda members running around Britain — at large — whom authorities are trying to locate and, presumably, jail.

How did Britain discover this information? Wiretaps, that’s how. The NSA is doing important work. I hope the people who have been demanding information get the information they need to realize this is not something they want stopped.

That’s My Word.

Seconded.

***

AJ Strata (happy blogiversary) raises the possibility of ABC News being targeted for a leak investigation.

Andy McCarthy, David Rivkin and Lee Casey have an analysis of terrorist surveillance and the Constitution that should be mandatory MSM reading.

Max Boot: We need to spy more

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