I apologize for the low quality of the following images, but it was the best I could do in retrieving the testimony that former CIA Counterintelligence Chief James Angleton gave in front of the Church Committee on September 25, 1975. The testimony comes from pages 72 and 73 of The Huston Plan report. In this extended excerpt, he is being questioned by Republican Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania about a couple of instances in which he and/or some of his compatriots in the CIA had failed to inform the president of the United States about illegal activities they were carrying out related to surreptitiously opening mail and otherwise spying on American citizens. He also makes reference to toxic shellfish, which is a whole other kettle that is covered in a separate report called Unauthorized Storage of Toxic Agents. If you have difficulty reading the testimony, you can click on the images to embiggen. Otherwise, I direct you to the links above to pages 72 and 73.
The history here is interesting in itself, but I direct you to the portion of the testimony where Angleton is asked to explain his previous testimony in which he stated that “It is inconceivable that a secret intelligence arm of the government has to comply with all the overt orders of the government.”
You can see that Angleton had come to regret that comment and would not stand by it. After all, within the context of this questioning, Angleton wasn’t just trying to explain why he ignored the laws that Congress made; he was also trying to explain why he kept information from President Nixon and disobeyed what appeared to be direct orders not to continue opening American citizens’ mail.
And these are two different kinds of lawbreaking. It may be true that a covert arm of government cannot always follow the strict letter of the law or comply with all the disclosure requirements that Congress tries to impose on it. That’s one debate.
But it’s a different matter to argue that an intelligence arm can and should keep things from the president that the president wants to know. And it’s definitely dubious to suggest that an intelligence arm doesn’t have to comply with presidential orders.
Yet, this is how the CIA saw things up at least until the point that everything blew up in the mid-1970’s and the public became outraged about the CIA’s activities.
What I question is how much that attitude has really changed.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s Torture Report demonstrates that the CIA repeated many of these behaviors during President George W. Bush’s two terms in office.
They flagrantly violated the law that Congress had created, refused to comply with oversight requirements, repeatedly misled Congress, didn’t keep the president informed of their activities, and went far beyond what was authorized (which was already torture) in carrying out their so-called Enhanced Interrogation Techniques. They even spied on the Intelligence Committee staff and tried to have them arrested.
I want to know why CIA Director John Brennan still has his job. I want to know why former CIA directors George Tenet, Porter Goss, and Michael Hayden are not going to be held accountable for their actions.
But I know why.
Our leaders are afraid of the CIA.
