"Culture of Corruption" and Intelligence Oversight

How much power should an impeached Federal Judge have over national security or intelligence oversight and budgeting? What if even Nancy Pelosi, in a Democratic controlled Congress, voted to impeach? We're about to find out, it looks like:

Barely two years into office, "Judge" Hastings accepted a $150,000 bribe in exchange for giving a lenient sentence to two swindlers, then lied in subsequent sworn testimony about the incident. The case involved two brothers, Frank and Thomas Romano, who had been convicted in 1980 on 21 counts of racketeering. Together with attorney William Borders Jr., Hastings, who presided over the Romanos' case, hatched a plot to solicit a bribe from the brothers. In exchange for a $150,000 cash payment to him, Hastings would return some $845,000 of their $1.2 million in seized assets after they served their three-year jail terms.

In the US military, a DUI can be enough to lose you your security clearance. Cheating on your wife or having too much debt - you'll be swabbing the deck outside of the radio shack instead of reading message traffic inside of it. Taking a bribe gets you a free trip to Leavenworth, KS.

The Democrats won in part because they promised more responsible and honest oversight. With all the new Democrats in the House to choose from, Ms. Pelosi owes it to the Nation that elected her party and to the troops she supports to at least appoint an Intelligence Committee Chair who could meet the minimum standards for a security clearance in any military branch.

This scares the holy hell out of me.