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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Calypso Facto, I know. I discussed this law here on Turley a few times in threads about police misconduct in the past. Good job Walker. Too bad he didn’t veto the many bad laws passed by the Republican House and Senate.
Why not just dissolve the CIA? They’ve committed more murders, break-ins, torture, and other crimes than any terrorist organization or intelligence agency worldwide? Nobody in government anywhere would do an honest investigation and report on them. That would mean being instantly disappeared, never to be heard from again, while the rest of the country performed a simultaneous yawn. The citizens just don’t give a spit about stuff like this, and the CIA knows it. Most of CONgress is too intimidated to anything about it, either.
Tyger – you want to cite your sources for info on the CIA and deaths, etc.
You guys Snoopy – Charles M Schulz wait I mean Paul C Sculte has a skewed dry sense of humor. My Dad had one like that.
I liked the Article Rafflaw – I was going through old posts and I was glad to see I was not the only one to misspell your avatar.
Also, one would wonder why on earth Obama would fire Panetta for a breach of moral conduct???
happypappies – 1) I would appreciate it if you would spell my name correctly 2) Panetti had said when he went to DOD that he was retiring before he was 75. He waited until after the elections to announce.
Paul C. Schulte – So my keyboard is on the fritz again and it got by me. I will have a talk with it. 😉 I was thinking of Petraeus I love it when everyone gets anal around here.
happypappies – I find hitting the keyboard against the desk is a big help. Shakes out the crumbs. 😉
Paul C Schulte – I love it when you are smiling at me again. It makes me wonder what you are really thinking. Remember the picture of the guy with a mallet over his computer? I am waiting for a keyboard. This is the second one I have worn out. I don’t only do this blog. lol. I have taken my space bar apart and unwrapped dog hair from it and sprayed compressed air on the entire board more than once. (I know what I am doing)
Anyway. All of this talk about the CIA is very interesting and it has me thinking. (oh no) I don’t feel like referencing this but I know that it’s true that Obama has the CIA flying with the ISI and droning their own countryside. It’s so marvelous the way things have gone since the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 and the Intelligence gathering efforts are just fascinating. Wouldn’t you agree.
What I find fascinating is the ability to be able to talk to these people on line and have them lie to you bald faced in 2010 and all the way to the capture of Osama Bin Ladin telling you that He did not exist and that he was a creation of the CIA intelligence and that 9/11 was an inside job that President Bush did.
Oh, yes. I just received a petition to sign to respect other peoples religions.. I certainly did from the People of Pakistan. In Pakistan. That I have known since 2010. That tell me these very interesting things…….
I really don’t think it would be a good idea to get rid of the CIA. It would be naive in the extreme imo. What do you think?
Paul, some people are just plain rude and unfunny.
Inga – some people have no sense of humor 😉
We (in Wisconsin) do, Inga. The Republican legislature passed it and Scott Walker signed it last April.
Just like the police departments that investigate police misconduct, same result. We oughtta have a law that NO law enforcement agency can investigate themselves.
Inga – I agree with you that police departments should not investigate themselves for wrong-doing, but when classified documents are involved it is a problem. Maybe you would have to have NSA do the investigation.
Ok Paul, ever the ‘jokester’. Yeah ohhhh funny.
Inga – humor is personal. I LMAO.
“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”
From Wikipedia:
“President Barack Obama nominated Brennan as his next director of the CIA on January 7, 2013. The ACLU called for the Senate not to proceed with the appointment until it confirms that “all of his conduct was within the law” at the CIA and White House. John Brennan was approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 5, 2013 to succeed David Petraeus as the Director of the CIA by a vote of 12 to 3.”
So, yet again, all of his conduct and that of his employees is within the law. Hmmm.
Also, I find it interesting that “former CIA Director Leon Panetta” ordered the “CIA to conduct its own investigation into the documents”. Almost sounds like Panetta figured a whitewashing would be in order. Why no outside investigation?
How about the literal WHITE WASH of two Cubans who, like Obama, are not “Natural Born Citizens” but are running for President despite their obvious and immutable ineligibility. Deja vu all over again.
You don’t suppose the Speaker, who’s duty is candidate scrutiny and vetting, and the SCOTUS will take remedial English and Constitutional Law, just to brush up on the requirement to be born in America of two citizen-parents at the time of the candidate’s birth.
Although, I do recall that the head International Bankster and card-carrying member of the Fed/Treasury/Banker Complex, Ben Bernanke, while visiting Jerusalem, informed us all that “the Constitution had been evolved.” Thanks, Ben.
Funny, Barry Soetoro never made such an insurrectionist and incriminating, ridiculous claim as the “evolution” of the Constitution. Matter of fact, I think the President et al. keep a copy of the unevolved Constitution right there in Washington, D.C.
(Ooo! Let’s ask the SCOTUS. I’ll bet they’ll agree with Ben, like they did on Obamacare, which compelled the purchase of a product; a product as it was declared by Congress, when Congress vehemently denied Obamacare was a tax, which would have caused Obamacare’s immediate rejection and failure).
Corruption is the spice of life!
Remind me again, why are we supposed to believe anything the President and his administration says?
Because if you believe there’s any significant difference in opinion between the president and Brennan, it’s like to discuss a bridge that I’m putting on the market. Good location, cheap price.
I cannot believe why anyone is surprised that the CIA was snooping. Who the devil thought they wouldn’t? Come on. Let’s get real. They are the CIA for goodness sake.
I echo Inga and bfm.
Good grief, Paul. Why do you not think that is a problem? Why is this not a conflict of interest?
Good article, rafflaw!
The sad part is, even if we all voiced our concerns to our congressmen, I doubt anything would be done. 🙁
Perhaps I’m just cynical…is there something we can do to end these sort of shenanigans?
More obfuscation and cover-up by what was promised to be the “most transparent administration in history”? Say it ain’t so!
I see we have a lot of ultracrepidarians. Perhaps we should let the voters decide who is seeking their best interests and who is just seeking to rearrange the deck chairs on our Ship of State
Artificial Intelligence is a Clear and Present Danger.
Artificial Intelligence will assume power.
These are the positions of physicists and scientists.
I have a surreal sense of deja vu.
Is the past prologue?
Jesus, Paul. This is the kind of rhetoric thanks makes this blog’s comments section toxic. So many people have left because of this type of thing. Nasty and uncalled for.
When the law breakers are also the investigators, what can we expect? The CIA answers to no one it seems.
@Paul C. Schulte: ” you never fail to entertain us on the weekend. This had been a slow Sunday until I saw this. Thanks for the laughs.”
I scanned the article and though it was a pretty reasonable summary of other sources I have read. That does not mean that I will agree with every point after a close reading. But I though it was pretty good.
If you disagree with specific facts in the article why not let us know which ones?
If you think specific opinions or positions expressed in the article are not supported by the facts then why not make the argument here and tell us which ones so we can all share in your laughs?
bfm – if you have to explain humor it is no longer funny.
rafflaw – do read anything that could be considered ‘mainstream’?
rafflaw – you never fail to entertain us on the weekend. This had been a slow Sunday until I saw this. Thanks for the laughs.
Mr. Brennan is both a liar (to the American people) and a perjurer (to official agencies).
He is also a torturer under the Geneva Convention.
In short Mr. Brennan is felonious scum.
Once again we see that laws that would result in an ordinary American being sent to jail as routinely ignored by our “leaders”.
When laws are routinely broken by government officials, public morality inevitably declines – the issue is no longer right or wrong, but rather what we think that we will get away with.
We become a nation governed by self serving calculation rather than by a sense of morality.