State Department offers to share classified dissent cable on Afghanistan withdrawal with key lawmakers
CBSN
The State Department said Wednesday it would allow the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to review a partially redacted, classified dissent cable written by U.S. personnel in 2021 related to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Republican committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas had announced last week plans for a committee vote on May 24 regarding whether to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena, issued in late March, for the cable. The matter would later move to a vote in the full House.
In a letter obtained by CBS News dated Wednesday and addressed to McCaul, the State Department said it had already provided "extraordinary" accommodations to the committee amid concerns that disclosure of the cable and its signatories could discourage employees from using the dissent channel for candid reactions to policy decisions in the future.
