CIA Spied on Senate, Lied About It
National Journal (h/t Hot Air):
The Central Intelligence Agency improperly and covertly hacked into computers used by Senate staffers to investigate the spy agency’s Bush-era interrogation practices, according to an internal investigation.
CIA Director John Brennan has determined that employees “acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding” brokered between the CIA and its Senate overseers, according to agency spokesman Dean Boyd.
The stunning admission follows a scathing, 40-minute speech by Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein on the Senate floor back in March, in which she accused the CIA of secretly accessing her panel’s computers that were used to review documents related to the government’s torture, detention, and rendition policies deployed during George W. Bush’s presidency. The powerful California Democrat lacerated the CIA for attempting to impede her panel’s investigation and charged the agency with possibly violating the Constitution.
At the time, Brennan denied Feinstein’s accusations, telling NBC News reporter Andrea Mitchell, “As far as the allegations of the CIA hacking into Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth.… That’s beyond the scope of reason.”
Today, apparently, it’s . . . true.
Democrats are outraged, apparently because they were conducting a review of Bush-era CIA actions. I am outraged, because the principle matters more than the personalities or politics. (See the difference? I thought you might have caught that.)
Pols are saying Brennan should resign. That would be a start, although I won’t hold my breath. (Where would a top national security official get the idea that he could lie to Congress without consequence, anyway?)
Me, I want to see people criminally investigated. I have full faith and confidence in Eric Holder to do what is right.
(Protip: It’s easier to keep a straight face when people can’t see your face.)
P.S. Barack Obama? He read about it in the newspaper.
this CIA p.o.s. shouldn’t be given the dignity of resigning
food stamp should fire his lying ass
he should’ve done this already, actually
happyfeet (8ce051) — 7/31/2014 @ 6:24 pmDid I read that this was done in response to Senate intelligence staffers unauthorized access of materials ?
JD (3845bd) — 7/31/2014 @ 6:30 pmIt’s cute how the Senators think they have any power over the CIA.
Hahahahahahahaha.
Some people are leaders, and some people are victims.
someguy (84ecc5) — 7/31/2014 @ 6:52 pmJD,
If it was, and it may have been, there is a process for dealing with that. I don’t know the specific outlines of that process, but I can say with a high degree of confidence that this ain’t it.
Patterico (c633be) — 7/31/2014 @ 6:57 pmThat was not what I was implying, Patterico. It just seems that the perfidy of the Senate staffers gets glossed over in all this.
JD (3845bd) — 7/31/2014 @ 7:08 pmI’ve noticed something amiss in these responses: not one wishes you a happy birthday.
bridget (37b281) — 7/31/2014 @ 9:15 pmHappy birthday, Patterico!
Happy birthday,Patterico:
remember this little walk down memory lane:
http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=19633
or how Kerry’s former Senate staffer, leaked the names of interrogators to Gitmo detainee’s attys, and some of those names ended up in the hands of some of the detainees
narciso (ee1f88) — 7/31/2014 @ 9:19 pmis it just me or is it too too coincidental that we have this situation perfectly coinciding with a gruesome ebola outbreak
Technical Glitch Clogs Up U.S. Visa System
in which case, maybe just maybe *someone* in this vastly incompetent joke of a whore government is on the stick in small measure
happyfeet (8ce051) — 7/31/2014 @ 9:29 pmin *some* small measure i mean
happyfeet (8ce051) — 7/31/2014 @ 9:30 pmthis was also in the context of a Justice Department witchhunt into said interrogators, meanwhile they released another detainee, Al Awda, who had ties to Suleiman Ghaith, because he worked out or something,
narciso (ee1f88) — 7/31/2014 @ 9:33 pmbut still
america should be terrified
happyfeet (8ce051) — 7/31/2014 @ 9:33 pmoh
#11 was at #8 not about the corrupt Justice Department
happyfeet (8ce051) — 7/31/2014 @ 9:34 pmthat hoochie-suit clotty-head’s wearing is the exact same color that fast company used to add visual appeal to her fugly similarly-washed-out-looking daughter’s cover photo
this is probably not a coincidence cause these hoochies probably share tips with each other about how to compensate
happyfeet (8ce051) — 7/31/2014 @ 10:09 pmoh.
wrong thread
happyfeet (8ce051) — 7/31/2014 @ 10:10 pmOver 50 years ago an American President threatened to shatter the CIA into 1000 pieces and scatter them to the winds. He didn’t do it, but he did sack the Director, and that cost him his life.
ropelight (36b164) — 8/1/2014 @ 6:18 amAnd they put in the hands of the Pentagon, which was running operation Northwinds, Oswald trained in Minsk, along with two officials of the fledgling DGI, who would rise to high ranks,
narciso (ee1f88) — 8/1/2014 @ 6:32 amThis actually corroborates what I have said for some time: the CIA is infested with foreign intelligence moles.
The CIA was lying and lying about the effectiveness of the enhanced interrogation program, and they actually switched claims.
There was an internal report that claimed it was of no value. To the Senate I think they were later arguing that it as of some value. The senate was given access to the internal report, and this presented a problem for the moles within the CIA.
Sammy Finkelman (f5dc11) — 8/1/2014 @ 6:49 amshockingly, there isn’t any mention of the Senate staffers that pilfered the documents, that made the Company have to go McGee
narciso (ee1f88) — 8/1/2014 @ 7:21 amThey didn’t pilfer the documents. It was included among material turned over to the coimmittee.
The document in question is an earlier CIA report on the value of the enhanced interrogation methods (not its legality or morality, but its value) that contradicted what the CIA was later telling the Senate committee. (albeit different people in the CIA maybe)
Sammy Finkelman (f5dc11) — 8/1/2014 @ 8:20 amWho funds the gitmo detainee lobby, that used to be Levick and now Potomac Strategies, the Kingdom, the Emirates and Doha, those are the foreign agents.
narciso (ee1f88) — 8/1/2014 @ 8:28 amObama held a press conference today.
Mark Simone (who was substituting for Sean Hannity) dipped into it from time to time on the radio.
I heard Obama say the Senate was not authorized to have that document. I don’t think the senate agrees – in any case, it was turned over – the Senate Committee staff did not hack into the CIA..
About torture, Obama said it was, and said a line had been crossed that should not have been crossed.
Of course Nobody ever fired in the Obama Administration
Sammy Finkelman (5818f3) — 8/1/2014 @ 4:26 pmI don’t think anyone ion the CIA killed JFK – but the probability is not zero, though, that Bill Clinton’s political Godfather did plot his death – and that of Harding too.
Sammy Finkelman (5818f3) — 8/1/2014 @ 4:27 pmDid Brennan ever deny the accusations under oath? Having two instances where top leaders of the intelligence agencies lied to Congress is bad enough. Having two instances where top leaders of the intelligence community committed perjury to Congress without this behavior being punished is unconscionable in a free society.
Joe (33fd9a) — 8/1/2014 @ 7:36 pmHe’s’ done much worse, burning a once in a life Saudi/UK double agent, into AQ
narciso (ee1f88) — 8/1/2014 @ 8:06 pmSen. Saxby Chambliss, a Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has spoken out in defense of Brennan, and much of the conservative movement has greeted news that the CIA spied on its overseers with a yawn. A GOP that is actually interested in reining in big government excesses and bureaucratic corruption would do well to orchestrate the replacement of legislators like Chambliss with legislators like Paul when assignments to key oversight committees are made.*
happyfeet (8ce051) — 8/2/2014 @ 11:23 amCan we use the outrage quotient as a proxy for how in-the-bag for the House of Saud they are?
askeptic (efcf22) — 8/2/2014 @ 12:58 pmNo Outrage = Totally bought and paid for.
President Racebaiting Socialist McDingleberry Manchurian Candidate is more concerned about the temporary disconfort of a few proven terrorist enemies of the U.S. than his personally selected head of the CIA lying to Congress and the implications of the CIA spying on the Senate.
Disturbing.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/2/2014 @ 1:07 pmwe already know they track every phone call, email, web search that occurs, it takes a whole lot more to really raise hackles,
narciso (ee1f88) — 8/2/2014 @ 1:07 pmI agree with the outrage on this one.
aphrael (69561e) — 8/4/2014 @ 7:19 amThe Democrats are sticking to a position that
1) the enhanced interrogation was torture, albeit the torturers are not to be blamed, because it was not unreasonable for their judgement to be warped at that time.
2) The enhanced interrogation produced no benefits whatsoever.
Chambliss is sticking to a position that it produced benefitsd.
Probably in reality it often destroyed or prevented more voluntary co-operation, was aimed at the wrong people sometimes, but did produce some ancilliary benefits, and what came out of it was an element in dicovering Osama bin Laden’s hiding place. (a result of forcing people to talk, and Jhalid sheik Muhammed and another person telling different lies, which caused an analyst some years later to realize that a certain courier was really a very important person.)
But largely the interrogations were done stupidly.
Sammy Finkelman (db7fea) — 8/4/2014 @ 7:40 amHow dare the CIA suspect that a paragon of virtue like Feintein, whose integrity, fairness, and non-partisan, non-political dedication to our country’s best interests are by-words in Washington, and who never made tens of millions steering dirty, crony, government contracts to her husband, would ever allow her staffers to use the CIA’s own computers, lent to them by the CIA, to access top secret information that they had no clearance for or permission to?
nk (dbc370) — 8/4/2014 @ 8:41 am“But largely the interrogations were done stupidly.”
Sammy – Well it was before the goofy Obama Administration requirement to Mirandize enemy combatants.
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AsFKSJRm05WbjEt.73K5SzWbvZx4?fr=yfp-t-747-s&toggle=1&fp=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=monty%20python%20comfy%20chair%20video
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/4/2014 @ 9:17 amTo the degree that he cares at all Ogabe is according full faith and credit to the MB.
gary gulrud (46ca75) — 8/4/2014 @ 9:37 am“To the degree that he cares at all Ogabe is according full faith and credit to the MB.”
gary – Or to Eric Holder’s pro bono terrorist bar.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 8/4/2014 @ 10:14 am