I for one appreciate the shout-out to Walter Mondale! I saw him speak on a panel once, some sort of retrospective on the 1975-6 Church Committee, a subject near and dear to my heart as this marked the beginning of modern U.S. intelligence oversight. At p. 728 of Beverly Gage's brilliant J. Edgar Hoover biography, G-Man, she notes that, "The Committee also revealed much of what Hoover had sought to keep hidden at the FBI. After a single day of hearings on Hoover's domestic intelligence policies, Senator Walter Mondale declared the witnesses' matter-of-fact descriptions 'some of the most disturbing testimony that can be imagined in a free society.'" I remember him being quite humorous on the panel, describing Hoover's "private" files as "that nutter stuff up in there."
I always do shoutouts to Mondale (who I was fortunate to interview for my research.) In the Carter administration, he led the fight to properly regulate the IC. Including establishing the FISA Court and the CIA charter. (It's in my dissertation.) Interesting thing, VPs since Mondale have frequently helped the president work with the IC (sometimes for better - like Gore other times, such as Cheney, less so.) Mondale was a also really funny. A big fan of Monty Python, a generally witty guy. Thanks for reading.
I for one appreciate the shout-out to Walter Mondale! I saw him speak on a panel once, some sort of retrospective on the 1975-6 Church Committee, a subject near and dear to my heart as this marked the beginning of modern U.S. intelligence oversight. At p. 728 of Beverly Gage's brilliant J. Edgar Hoover biography, G-Man, she notes that, "The Committee also revealed much of what Hoover had sought to keep hidden at the FBI. After a single day of hearings on Hoover's domestic intelligence policies, Senator Walter Mondale declared the witnesses' matter-of-fact descriptions 'some of the most disturbing testimony that can be imagined in a free society.'" I remember him being quite humorous on the panel, describing Hoover's "private" files as "that nutter stuff up in there."
I always do shoutouts to Mondale (who I was fortunate to interview for my research.) In the Carter administration, he led the fight to properly regulate the IC. Including establishing the FISA Court and the CIA charter. (It's in my dissertation.) Interesting thing, VPs since Mondale have frequently helped the president work with the IC (sometimes for better - like Gore other times, such as Cheney, less so.) Mondale was a also really funny. A big fan of Monty Python, a generally witty guy. Thanks for reading.