How convenient…….

From UPI:

WASHINGTON, May. 11 (UPI) — The U.S. Defense Department’s new guidelines would bar most enlisted personnel and officers from testifying before Congress.
The guidelines were written by Robert Wilkie, an assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs, and sent in an April 19 memo to the House Armed Services Committee, The Boston Globe said Friday. A Democratic aide gave a copy to the Globe.

Under the guidelines, the Pentagon would have the right to keep anyone below the rank of full colonel from testifying. Junior officers and enlisted service members could only participate in briefings for members of Congress with Defense Department clearance and their words could not be transcribed.

At least one hearing has already been affected. Three officers were testifying at a closed-door hearing on training Iraqi security forces when a representative of the Pentagon General Counsel’s office demanded that their testimony not be described. When two congressmen refused, the Pentagon lawyer and the three officers left the hearing abruptly.