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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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July 10th,
2009 - Lawmaker Says CIA Director Ended Secret Program |
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Lawmaker Says CIA Director Ended
Secret Program By Pamela Hess Associated Press July 10, 2009 Washington - CIA Director
Leon Panetta has terminated a "very serious" covert program the spy
agency kept secret from Congress for eight years, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a
House Intelligence subcommittee chairwoman, said Friday. Schakowsky is pressing for
an immediate committee investigation of the classified program, which has not
been described publicly. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, the chairman of the
House Intelligence Committee, has said he is considering an investigation. "The program is a very,
very serious program and certainly deserved a serious debate at the time and
through the years," Schakowsky told The Associated Press in an
interview. "But now it's over." Democrats revealed late
Tuesday that CIA Director Leon Panetta had informed members of the House
Intelligence Committee on June 24 that the spy agency had been withholding
important information about a secret intelligence program begun after the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Schakowsky described Panetta
as "stunned" that he had not been informed of the program until
nearly five months into his tenure as director. Panetta had learned of the
program only the day before informing the lawmakers, according to a U.S.
intelligence official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity Friday
because he was not authorized to discuss the program publicly. Panetta has launched an
internal probe at the CIA to determine why Congress was not told about the
program. Exactly what the classified program entailed is still unclear. The intelligence official
said the program was "on-again/off-again" and that it was never
fully operational, but he would not provide details. Schakowsky, D-Ill., said
Friday that the CIA and Bush administration consciously decided not to tell
Congress. "It's not as if this
was an oversight and over the years it just got buried. There was a decision
under several directors of the CIA and administration not to tell the
Congress," she said. Schakowsky, who chairs the
Intelligence subcommittee on oversight and investigations, said in a Thursday
letter to Reyes that the CIA's lying was systematic and inexcusable. The
letter was obtained by The Associated Press on Friday. She said Reyes indicated to
her the committee would conduct a probe into whether the CIA violated the
National Security Act, which requires, with rare exceptions, that Congress be
informed of covert activities. She told AP she hopes to conduct at least part
of the investigation for the committee. She said this is the fourth
time that she knows of that the CIA has misled Congress or not informed it in
a timely manner since she began serving on the Intelligence Committee two and
half years ago. In 2008, the CIA inspector
general revealed that the CIA had lied to Congress about the accidental shoot
down of American missionaries over Peru in 2001. In 2007, news reports
disclosed that the CIA had secretly destroyed videotapes of interrogations of
a terrorist suspect. She would not describe the
other incident. Schakowsky said she thinks
Panetta is changing the CIA for the better, adding that the failure to inform
Congress was indicative of "contempt" the Bush administration and
intelligence agencies under him held for Congress. "Many times I felt it
was an annoyance to them to have to come to us and answer our
questions," she said. "There was an impatience and a contempt for
the Congress." The House is expected to
take up the 2010 intelligence authorization bill next week. It includes a
provision that would require the White House to inform the entire committee
about upcoming covert operations rather than just the "Gang of
Eight" - the senior members from both parties on the House and Senate
Intelligence Committees and the Democratic and Republican leaders in both
houses. The White House this week
threatened to veto the final version of the bill if it includes that
provision. Democratic aides said the
language may be softened in negotiations with the Senate to address the White
House's concern. But Schakowsky said the
wider briefings are the best remedy to avoiding future notification abuses. Republicans charge that
Democratic outrage about the Panetta revelation is just an attempt to provide
political cover to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who in May accused the CIA of
lying to her in 2002 about its use of waterboarding. What Pelosi knew about the
CIA's interrogation program and when she knew it - and why she did not object
to it sooner - is expected to be emphasized by Republicans during debate over
the intelligence bill. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQDNMgQrXYHlGWd9F3063DLFpiHAD99BMNVG2 |