It’s really kind of incredible that the CIA is in charge of declassifying a Senate Intelligence Committee report that condemns the CIA for torturing people and then lying about it. There couldn’t be a greater conflict of interest.
I understand that the CIA is used to doing the declassification process, and that they have equities and must have a say in what is declassified. But they certainly should not have the final word on what is and is not divulged from the Senate report.
As things stand, the Chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Diane Feinstein of California, has been told that the declassification will be completed by July 4th. At that point, I expect we’ll get a report with a few sentences here and there separated by giant blocks of blacked-out paragraphs. And there won’t be any way to appeal the CIA’s decisions. The only way to avoid this is for the administration to be the appellate board. They should promise that they’ll look at the job the CIA did and have the president unilaterally declassify anything he thinks is basically a bad faith classification.
Whitewash! Get yer Whitewash here!
This is merely the Executive Summary of the full report that Senator Feinstein has said will be declassified “later.” Reportedly (TPM) and to her credit:
The White House lead led to directing the CIA how to proceed:
I recall a time long ago when the Nixon WH took the lead in investigating “Watergate” allegations. It didn’t end well. (Gov Christie’s internal investigation of the GW Bridge scandal didn’t fare any better. Outsourcing to a friendly attorney for a $1 million dollars was equally laughable.)
There is one sure way to appeal the CIA’s decision. Legislatively take away its power to classify. That power was written in the the legislation in 1947 and 1949 that created the bureaucratic architecture of the CIA. It can be taken away. If we are still a democratic republic.
Or one of the Congressional intelligence oversight committees could chose to leak and unredacted copy of the report, which is their Constitutional prerogative no matter how much they want to dodge it.
The problem is the no one in DC (including the media) wants accountability and oversight over the past decade an a half.
“If we are still a democratic republic”….to this old guy a really, really big IF. There was another time after the Bay of Pigs thing when pressure was being brought to bare on the upper echelon at CIA, that didn’t turn out very well, as I remember.
Congress always has the power to change things it doesn’t like it just seems like it’s unlikely they will
Your naivete is touching. Everybody in any position of real power in the federal government is scared shitless of the CIA and its allies in the intelligence community. Their power goes beyond anything that has been proven so far. It is immense and in extreme cases it can be deadly. Bet on it.
AG
if the CIA has something on them then they don’t deserve to be in Congress
Dream on. Who among us hasn’t cut a corner here or there?
Stepped out behind someone’s back.
Had a bout with substance or two.
Ducked some money in a tax situation.
Told a tall tale in a business situation.
Protected a guilty family member.
And so on.
This is one of the things that is so dangerous about the surveillance state. In mechanical engineering, there is a concept called about over-engineering. If, for example, gears are machined to too fine a tolerance they will lock up instead of mesh. The Result? The machine locks down. As the gears of the intelligence system are machined ever finer there is no room left for simple survival. Perfection becomes the normative condition. But…and this is a big but…the question we must ask is who defines that perfection? If the holes in the wall of the culture are totally closed, where are the cracks in that wall through which new ideas and concepts have historically escaped?
Now of course as things stand now in the federal government there is no fear of interfering with original thought because the entire PermaGov is just going through the motions of “thinking.” But it plays this dumbshow under threat of surveillance. Theft and incompetence aren’t surveilled…unless they cross the line and become public…but original thought and action are surveilled. Do or say something new and you will be non-personned. Ask Ron Paul about that shit.
The CIA and other intelligence entities collate all of that information and ride herd on the important folks…the ones who could make a difference if they actually acted.
If the CIA doesn’t have you on their radar you are not fit to be in Congress.
AG
you can’t be for and against the same thing, you’re just as bad as the politicians you rail against
Exactly what “same thing” am I supposedly “for and against,” IJP?
Define your terms.
If you can.
AG
Does this mean that John Yoo and Alberto Gonzalez will face criminal charges or possible disbarment for the Torture Memos and their implementation.
No.
It’s not “incredible” at all, Booman. In fact. it is simply business as usual in Washington, D.C. (D.C.=District of the Central Intelligence Agency.) As I wrote above, the power of the CIA and its intelligence community allies is immense. It makes J. Edgar Hoover’s little collection of sexual blackmail files look like playground foolishness in comparison. No one…not senators, not cabinet members and certainly not Barack Obama or whomever else is installed in the presidency (with CIA approval, bet on it)…dares to effectively confront this behemoth that has formed underneath the visible government like the 6/7ths of an iceberg that you cannot see from the surface. The
possible…errrr, ahhh, make thatprobable(Aw hell, let’s get real and make that adjective certain) consequences of such an effort would simply be too dangerous to consider. All you get are dumbshow versions of “resistance” on occasion (Thank you, Senator Feinstein.) sometimes accompanied by the replacement of a CIA head…always one who has been pre-approved by the very system that he is supposed to reform, bet on that as well…but never any legislation or other action with real teeth.“Incredible?”
The continued existence of this rogue PermaGov is what is incredible.
No.
Wait a minute.
Its continued shadowed existence under the very noses of the vast majority of Americans is what is really incredible. They oughta have some kind of secret tribute room to the man that ran Operation Mockingbird, Frank Wisner. Without a thoroughly controlled media none of this would have been possible.
Frank shot himself in 1962 with his son’s shotgun after some “mental problems.”
Hats off to ol’ Frank.
His Mighty Wurlitzer still roars.
Google News Top Stories as of 12:25 PM, 6/8/14.
Yes it does.
AG