Sen. Feinstein will head Senate Intelligence Committee
By Frank Davies


Mercury News Washington Bureau

Posted: 12/15/2008 06:21:29 PM PST


WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, as expected, will become chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee when the new Congress meets Jan. 6, Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed Monday.

Feinstein, a California Democrat, becomes the first woman to chair the committee in its 32-year history. Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said last month he planned to give up the intelligence post to become chairman of the Commerce Committee.

Feinstein said in a statement Monday that her priorities would include "working with the Obama administration to end the practice of coercive interrogations and creating a uniform standard for interrogations throughout the U.S. government, granting the Red Cross access to detainees and closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within one year."

Contact Frank Davies at fdavies@mercurynews.com or (202) 662-8921.

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