Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Weekend Contributor
It is unfortunately not surprising that anything that the CIA does should be considered suspect. When the CIA recently came under fire for allegedly spying on Senate computers, no one, except the Senators who were spied on were surprised. Now that Director John Brennan has completed his internal “investigation” into the matter, the truth has come out. John Brennan says he and the CIA did nothing wrong!
“The outrageous whitewash issued Wednesday by the CIA panel John Brennan hand-picked to lead the investigation into his agency’s spying on Senate staffers is being taken seriously by the elite Washington media, which is solemnly reporting that officials have been “cleared” of any “wrongdoing“.
But what the report really does is provide yet more evidence of Brennan’s extraordinary impunity.
The panel concluded that CIA officials acted reasonably by scouring Senate computer drives in early 2014 when faced with a “potential security breach”. (That “breach” had allowed Senate staffers investigating CIA torture to access, more than three years earlier, a handful of documents Brennan didn’t want them to see.)
But the CIA also released a redacted version of the full report of an earlier investigation by the CIA’s somewhat more independent inspector general’s office. And between the two reports, it is now more clear than ever that Brennan was the prime mover behind a hugely inappropriate assault on the constitutional separation of powers, and continues to get away with it.” Reader Supported News
You may remember John Brennan. He was President Obama’s Advisor for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security prior to being nominated to head the CIA in 2009. During his 25 plus years with the CIA prior to being picked by Obama as his counterterrorism aid, Mr. Brennan was involved in and/or supported the CIA torture program.
As suggested earlier, it could be considered the height of hypocrisy for someone who at least supported the Torture program initiated by the Bush Administration, to not only lead the CIA but also handpick a board to review if the CIA had broken its own laws and possibly the law in spying on Senate computers over the release of the controversial torture report. Especially after the CIA had completed its own review earlier by its Inspector General, David B. Buckley that had stated that the agency employees had gone too far.
“After five CIA employees — two lawyers and three computer specialists — hacked into files and emails belonging to the Committee, Brennan confronted Sen. Feinstein and accused her Committee of breaching the CIA’s firewall and stealing the Panetta Review. CIA Inspector General David Buckley found his agency guilty of hacking into the Committee’s computers and admonished the five CIA employees.” Nation of Change
The Panetta Review was an investigation started by then CIA Director Leon Panetta into the CIA torture activities that was initiated about the time that Panetta first released documents to the Senate committee to investigate the CIA torture program.
“In 2009, former CIA Director Leon Panetta authorized access to millions of documents to then-Committee chairperson, Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Documenting the CIA’s Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation (RDI) program between the years 2001—2006, the reports gave a damning account of kidnapping, torture, and murder committed by CIA operatives. At the same time, Panetta ordered the CIA to conduct its own investigation into the documents, now referred to as the Panetta Review.
Over 1,000 pages in length, the Panetta Review found that the CIA had repeatedly overstated the value of intelligence gained through torture. Unbeknownst to CIA Director John Brennan, the Senate Intelligence Committee had access to the classified Panetta Review.” Nation of Change
The Panetta Review and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report both confirm that the CIA torture program not only broke US laws, it even went farther than the Bush Administration had authorized. When the Senate report was released in December of last year, Mr. Brennan went so far as to suggest that any future efforts to institute another torture program would be up to policy makers!
“Indeed, when Brennan made his first public appearance after the Senate torture report came out, he was unbowed – in fact, actually appeared emboldened. (He also validated the worst fears of torture opponents by saying that the return of torture tactics was a matter for “future policymakers”.)’ Reader Supported News
To make matters worse, the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee is now demanding all copies of the legally released torture report be returned to the Senate Committee.
“Because the CIA has blocked the Panetta Review’s release under FOIA, Sen. Burr intends to return every copy to the agency in order to suppress the information contained within the inflammatory review. As the new Chairman of the Committee, Burr also wrote letters to the White House and other federal agencies insisting they return all copies of the roughly 6,900-page Senate report on the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. Since executive branch agencies are obligated to respond to FOIA requests, Burr wants the copies of the torture report returned to Congress, which is not subject to such requests.” Nation of Change
Remind me again, why are we supposed to believe anything John Brennan or his CIA says? Maybe Mr. Brennan thinks he is the Wizard behind the curtain and no one can see his deception. However, I think Toto can see right through him!
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