House holds rare secret session: here's what the best information leads us to believe was discussed in the House's secret session.(CONGRESS)

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The House of Representatives held a secret session on March 13 for only the sixth time since 1812. After being sworn to silence at the request of Republican leadership, members supposedly discussed information relating to revisions to the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for an hour behind closed doors.

Several representatives rose to express alarm when the first closed session in almost 25 years was proposed, but they eventually withdrew their objections so it could proceed.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said, "It raises questions about the Constitution of the United States," before noting that he knew the House had the power to make its own rules and that he would not be attending the session. "We ought to be proceeding with the utmost caution in going into this direction."

Kucinich also told the House that some members felt the country had drifted towards a "national security state" and that in his experience with secret committee meetings, the information was of "at best dubious value" and sometimes untrue or misleading.

He said the secret session of Congress probably had more to do with the administration's efforts to pass the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act than "with any compelling new information about national security."

If the secret House session was about the president trying to ram his changes about FISA through Congress, his attempt seems not to have been fully successful. A measure backed by Democrats was approved by the House 213 to 197 the day after the session despite supposed opposition from President Bush and Republican senators. If adopted by the Senate and signed into law, the new version would not offer the contested retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies that illegally helped gather information about Americans without a warrant. Experts say a veto is likely if the legislation makes it to the president's desk because he insists on protecting the telecom companies, which he claims is ...