Dana Milbank:Letting us in on a secret

[jojog]

Let's see if this will survive in this Forum.
Source: Washington Post

When House Republicans called a hearing in the middle of their long recess, you knew it would be something big, and indeed it was: They accidentally blew the CIA’s cover.

The purpose of Wednesday’s hearing of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee was to examine security lapses that led to the killing in Benghazi last month of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others. But in doing so, the lawmakers reminded us why “congressional intelligence” is an oxymoron.

~

In their questioning and in the public testimony they invited, the lawmakers managed to disclose, without ever mentioning Langley directly, that there was a seven-member “rapid response force” in the compound the State Department was calling an annex. One of the State Department security officials was forced to acknowledge that “not necessarily all of the security people” at the Benghazi compounds “fell under my direct operational control."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-letting-us-in-on-a-secret/2012/10/10/ba3136ca-132b-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html
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[porphyrian]

1. . n/t

[still_one]

2. That is what republicans are good for, outing CIA agents, and they are never called on it /nt

[Little Star]

3. I keep waiting to hear our MSM start talking about this....

so far crickets from my tv.

[C_U_L8R]

4. Did Ryan vote against

funding for protecting our Embassies ?

If so, I would love to see our man Biden dish some of that
back to the preening Eddie Munster goofball tonight.

[C_U_L8R]

7. Found the answer (and Ryan is toast)

Ryan did indeed vote against funding Embassy security
as Dana Millbank points out in this WA POST article...

"Ryan, Issa and other House Republicans voted for an amendment in 2009 to cut $1.2 billion from State operations, including funds for 300 more diplomatic security positions. Under Ryan’s budget, non-defense discretionary spending, which includes State Department funding, would be slashed nearly 20 percent in 2014, which would translate to more than $400 million in additional cuts to embassy security."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-forget-about-big-bird/2012/10/09/5f9a411c-1258-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_story.html

[Berlum]

8. wow

good find.

Republicans screw American security, then blame Democrats.

What lying whackjobs they are.

[dkf]

5. Old news...

Deadly Attack in Libya Was Major Blow to C.I.A. Efforts
By ERIC SCHMITT, HELENE COOPER and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: September 23, 2012 260 Comments

WASHINGTON — The attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans has dealt the Central Intelligence Agency a major setback in its intelligence-gathering efforts at a time of increasing instability in the North African nation.

Among the more than two dozen American personnel evacuated from the city after the assault on the American mission and a nearby annex were about a dozen C.I.A. operatives and contractors, who played a crucial role in conducting surveillance and collecting information on an array of armed militant groups in and around the city.

“It’s a catastrophic intelligence loss,” said one American official who has served in Libya and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the F.B.I. is still investigating the attack. “We got our eyes poked out.”


Though the agency has been cooperating with the new post-Qaddafi Libyan intelligence service, the size of the C.I.A.’s presence in Benghazi apparently surprised some Libyan leaders. The deputy prime minister, Mustafa Abushagour, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal last week saying that he learned about some of the delicate American operations in Benghazi only after the attack on the mission, in large part because a surprisingly large number of Americans showed up at the Benghazi airport to be evacuated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/world/africa/attack-in-libya-was-major-blow-to-cia-efforts.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[jojog]

6. What happened in House not old

[BlueStreak]

10. Absolutely. This Chaffets moron just outed a CIA base

And this is the same guy who yesterday criticized the administration for not having enough security and in the very next sentence aggressively defended his vote TO CUT EMBASSY SECURITY.

This guy is a danger to America. When do you expect we will see impeachment hearings on Rep. Chaffetz?

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/10/right-wing-medias-libya-consulate-security-myth/190508

[savannah43]

11. I know! I know!

Never.

[BlueStreak]

12. D'oh !

[leftyohiolib]

9. remember valerie plame-wilson

[JDPriestly]

13. The Republicans hold a hearing -- a public hearing -- in Congress to discuss insufficient

security in our foreign embassies and consulates. (Insufficient because they cut the State Department budget.) And ALMOST THE VERY NEXT DAY, our embassy in Yemen is attacked and the head of security there is killed.

Wikileaks disclosed historical events -- things that happened in the past, some of them embarrassing to our government. But it took the Republicans in Congress to commit treason -- to scream to the world that we cannot afford to pay for adequate security for our embassies and consulates.

We cannot close the State Department down and keep the military going. And it would probably be financially impossible for us to have "adequate" security in all the embassies and consulates in all the trouble-spots in the world. We are rich, but not that rich.

The Republicans in Congress need to remember that "Loose lips sink ships." They, not Assange have harmed our national security.

[riderinthestorm]

14. The Yemeni security guy who was killed is a tragic consequence

if they are truly connected to this hearing. Hard to deny the "coincidence" (and I don't believe in coincidences.... )

[spanone]

15. k&r...