The term "Gang of Eight" gained wide use in coverage of the controversial
warrantless surveillance of American citizens by the
National Security Agency under the
George W. Bush administration, in the context that no
members of Congress other than the Gang of Eight were informed of the program, and they were forbidden to disseminate knowledge of the program to other members of Congress. The Bush administration asserted that the briefings delivered to the Gang of Eight sufficed to provide
Congressional oversight of the program and preserve the
checks and balances between the
executive and
legislative branches. The non-partisan
Congressional Research Service prepared a legal analysis on January 18, 2006 that noted: "If the NSA surveillance program were to be considered an intelligence collection program, limiting congressional notification of the NSA program to the Gang of Eight, which some Members who were briefed about the program contend, would appear to be inconsistent with the law, which requires that the 'congressional intelligence committees be kept fully and currently informed of all intelligence activities', other than those involving covert actions." However, as noted by
David S. Kris, former
Assistant Attorney General for National Security at DOJ: "As it turns out, however, Rep.
Jerry Nadler was in fact aware of the bulk metadata collection in 2009, and (as discussed in the text) wrote to the
Department of Justice about the collection at the time. In response, DOJ sent him a letter in December 2009 noting that the government was making available to all Members of Congress information about the bulk collection and compliance issues that had arisen." In 2011, as it did in 2009, the Executive Branch again made documentation available to all members of Congress to explain reauthorization of
Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. Senator
Dianne Feinstein stressed in July 2013, "I know of no federal program for which audits, Congressional oversight and scrutiny by the Justice Department, the
Intelligence Community and the Courts are stronger or more sustained." Former Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales repeatedly made references to the "Gang of Eight" when being questioned about the warrantless surveillance/
domestic spying while testifying at the Justice Department Oversight hearing held July 24, 2007. ==Members, 119th Congress==