Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics

CIA Accused Of Monitoring Congress In Investigation Into Alleged False Statements By CIA Officials

225px-dianne_feinstein_official_senate_photoCIAThe CIA is in a rare confrontation with the Senate Intelligence Committee, a committee widely viewed as a rubber stamp for the intelligence community and headed by Senator Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein has been ridiculed for her defense of the intelligence services, attacks on whistleblowers, and support for the expansion of surveillance operations. Feinstein also helped cover up past intelligence scandals from the torture program to the recent alleged perjury by National Intelligence Chief James Clapper. After dismissing concerns over the surveillance of ordinary citizens, Feinstein is now dealing with surveillance of her own committee and staff. Staff members allege that the CIA violated core constitutional and statutory protections by monitoring their computers in an oversight investigation. The CIA has accused Senate staff members of sneaking out classified documents — documents that the staff say prove that the CIA lied to the Committee in its investigation of the CIA’s secret interrogation and detention program.

The CIA has refused to allow staff member to remove copies of key documents that contain incriminating information contradicting earlier information given to the Committee. It reflects the sense of impunity enjoyed by the national security agencies that it would refuse such copies to be taken to secure locations within the Senate Intelligence Committee. I have testified before that Committee in classified session and they have highly secure SCIFS and storage for such documents.

The CIA accused the staff of removing classified information to take back to the Committee. The panel staff then concluded that the agency had monitored computers that they were using at Langley. The material included a draft of an internal CIA review that at least one lawmaker has said contains clear evidence that officials misled the Intelligence Committee in disputing some of the committee report’s findings.

So let’s recap. The Committee believes that officials lied to it in an oversight investigation and then monitored their computers. Yet, this is being treated once again as a matter for internal deliberation and resolution? We just saw the debacle with Clapper who admits that his testimony was “the least untruthful” statement he could make. Yet, of course, that would still make it an untrue statement — which most people call a lie and lawyers call perjury. Indeed, when Roger Clemens was prosecuted for untrue statements before Congress, he was not told of the option to tell the least untrue statement on steroid use. Now we have intelligence officials not just allegedly lying but monitoring congressional communications.

From torture to illegal surveillance, the Committee has served more as a shield than a sword. Notably, I once put before the Committee a record of false statements and security breaches by national security officials. Those allegations were classified, buried and never saw the light of day again.

Sen. Mark Heinrich, D-N.M., a Senate Intelligence Committee member, “The CIA has gone to just about any lengths you can imagine to make sure that the detention and interrogation report won’t be released.” Yet, it is not supposed to work that way. The Senate exercises oversight authority. However, the Senate’s exercise of oversight has long been feeble and feckless. The fact that this report — dealing with violations under the Bush administration many years ago — is still being bottled up by the CIA is an example of the control exercised by these agencies. Rather than releasing the report on its own authority, the Committee has been delayed for years by the very agency under investigation, which has threatened to cut off access to classified material.

CIA Director John Brennan has denounced members of the Senate for making “spurious allegations about CIA actions that are wholly unsupported by the facts.”

Dianne Feinstein has no comment.

47 thoughts on “CIA Accused Of Monitoring Congress In Investigation Into Alleged False Statements By CIA Officials”

  2. Nick, you might be right about people being afraid However, what people need to realize is that the term ‘Intelligence Committee’ is a NAME, not a description.

  3. ap,
    Interesting Washington Post link.
    annie,
    I too would be very interested in a Bernie Sanders Presidential run.

  4. Just as big a scandal is the case of the fbi bugging the supreme court…the subject of a geraldo program and a book by Alexander Charns….Cloak and Gavel…. http://www.amazon.com/Cloak-Gavel-Wiretaps-Informers-Supreme/dp/0252018710 …and the writ of certiorari this writer filed and sent a copy to prof. Turley…i dont know if he received it…the fbi is checking my mail…… we have a defacto and trojan horse orwellian faction trying to intimidate the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government and any citizen that exposes this…

  5. annie:

    most of them are nuts, so no I probaby wouldnt go with your picks and certainly not Palin, Santorum, Christie, Huckabe, Rubio, Ryan or Jindal.

    The guy I like is up in the air so hopefully he decides to run.

  7. Thanks for the McClatchy link, Max-1.

    Juan Cole:

    http://www.juancole.com/2014/03/committee-classified-documents.html

    Excerpt:

    “There are many more details in the McClatchy report, which I highly recommend reading. And, yes, perhaps there’s an argument that Senate staffers weren’t supposed to take such documents, but the CIA trying to spin this by saying it was those staffers who were engaged in “wrongdoing” is almost certainly going to fall flat with Congress. After all, the intelligence committee is charged with oversight of the CIA, not the other way around. “You stole the documents we were hiding from you which proved we were lying, so we spied on you to find out how you did that” is not, exactly, the kind of argument that too many people are going to find compelling.

    Still, the latest is that the CIA has successfully convinced the DOJ to have the FBI kick off an investigation of the Senate staffers, rather than of the CIA breaking the law and spying on their overseers.

    Of course, the CIA may still have one advantage on its side: there are still some in Congress who are so supportive of the intelligence community itself that even they will make excuses for the CIA spying on their own staff.”

  10. Maybe if CIA was doing its job abroad instead of spying on Americans, our foreign policy wouldn’t be in shambles. Welcome to your police state. Please sign in….

  11. I certainly don’t want to have to bother Professor Turley with complaints about you again.

  12. Spinelli, must I recite the civility rule to you? Im surprised you haven’t memorized it yet, you refer to it so often.

  13. How many women and minority votes do you think any Republican would get if we voted today? I suggest that those on the right and faux libertarians, continue to try to marginalize voters with voter supression laws and continue to push anti abortion legislation, that’s a winning strategy for them.

  15. Oh heck, I know, it’s Christie/ Jindal. No that’s not it it’s Jindal/ Rubio. Two minorities, that’s a plus!

  16. Bron, perhaps your dream ticket would be Cruz/ Palin? Or hmmmm, maybe Rand Paul/ Paul Ryan, or Huckabee/ Santorum? Yes I bet it’s Cruz/ Palin. 😀

  17. Kraaken, Too many people are afraid of the Intelligence communities that I think it’s possible they are calling all the shots.

  18. Bron, Some folks are so far out there I don’t think they know their way home.

  19. “Sanders is making noises about running for Prez. A Sanders/ Warren or Warren/ Sanders ticket would be amazing.”

    on 1, March 7, 2014 at 4:08 pm nick spinelli

    “Amazing, maybe. Suicidal, definitely.”

    Come on Nick, Warren/Sanders or Sanders/Warren is a stroke of genius. What a great idea. A north east liberal and a north east socialist. One is a man and one is a woman, both are white and uppermiddle class or rich.

    Neither one has worked for more than a couple of years outside of education or public service. So very little experience in that respect which is just what we need more of in our elected officials.

    Although Senator Warren is part Native American so she does have that going for her. And Bernie has Ben and Jerry in his back pocket.

    All in all a great idea for the dems in 2016. Where do I sign up?

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