Who Does the CIA Work For?

[spanone]

Is the CIA a rogue agency?
They ignored the White House.
They ignored Congress.
Who's left?
I can never forget that bu$h*1 was Director of the CIA (1976-1977).

this article claims there were HUNDREDS of hours of videotape. Were these guys tortured for hundreds of hours?

~snip~ White House and Justice Department officials, along with senior members of Congress, advised the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003 against a plan to destroy hundreds of hours of videotapes showing the interrogations of two operatives of Al Qaeda, government officials said Friday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/washington/08intel.html?hp

[Hosnon]

1. According to constitutional theory, the CIA is accountable to both the Legislative

and Executive branches, as it is a hybrid of the two: created by Congress but administered by the President.

In practice, the CIA probably works for itself first, the President second and Congress third.

[Benhurst]

2. And I would assume they are sworn to defend and protect the Constitution,

not that anyone seems to care about that any more.

[spanone]

3. found this: from CIA's own website

Both the Congress and the Executive Branch oversee the CIA’s activities. In addition, the CIA is responsible to the American people through their elected representatives, and, like other government agencies, acts in accordance with US laws and executive orders. In the Executive Branch, the National Security Council—including the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense—provides guidance and direction for national foreign intelligence and counterintelligence activities. In Congress, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as other committees, closely monitor the Agency’s reporting and programs. The CIA is not a policy-making organization; it advises the Director of National Intelligence on matters of foreign intelligence, and it conducts covert actions only at the direction of the President or Director of National Intelligence.

https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/faqs/index.html#spyonamericans

[eib1]

9. I had thought the CIA

was subordinate to the State Department.
Obviously a few changes have been made since the Plame incident.
I suppose the Bush Regime has won the sympathy for the devil contest.

[Hosnon]

22. The State Deparment is also a hybrid. The only entity that is controlled exclusively

by the Executive is the office of the President (and to a slightly-less-than-exclusive degree, the office of the Vice-President).

This is what is called the Unitary Executive Theory (the UET is not what many on DU think that it is).

[Rosemary2205]

4. There are about 720 hrs in a month.

A couple months of interrogations would easily yield "hundreds of hours" for 2 detainees.

[spanone]

5. well, i guess so, if they tortured them 24/7

[Brother_1969]

6. They are an illegal and rouge agency.

They work for the benefit of corporations and should be disbanded.

The control of corporations over government agencies is one of many reasons why corporations, too, should be outlawed.

Friends, there is much work to do.

[spanone]

8. outlaw corporations? but seriously....

[Richardo]

21. My god, they sell make-up too?

:scared:

[EstimatedProphet]

23. Yes, they are like a rouge elephant.

Now excuse me, my wife is putting on makeup and ran out of rogue.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. Reading articles on the CIA is alot like a cheap rip-off of the Chinatown Syndrome.

I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them, I love them, I hate them...

[spanone]

10. if you believe the CIA

that the tapes were destroyed to protect the people in them......protect them from what? BREAKING THE LAW?

If an agency can destroy 'evidence' to protect it's people...there is no need for laws.

[951-Riverside]

11. "They" ignored the white house? When? n/t

[spanone]

12. read story: Harriet Miers - White House Counsel

Ms. Miers and the Justice Department lawyers had advised against destroying the tapes.

[dantyrant]

13. I'd love to see Miers try to tak on the CIA

That could only be entertaining.

[Perry Logan]

14. But then there are people like Valerie.

[ladjf]

15. The CIA works for the same people that own the media, the

courts and the Presidency.

[Postman]

16. The CIA works for Corporate America on the international front...

The FBI does it on the national front...

If you think they exist to "defend the Constitution" I have some ocean-front property in Wyoming for sale....

[spanone]

17. i said nothing about the constitution....

i asked, if they don't answer to Congress OR the White House who DO they answer to?

[Solon]

18. Themselves, first and foremost, gotta remember that the CIA has its own independent budget...

A normal agency doesn't deal in drugs to fund its own operations, the CIA has in the past, and I don't doubt for a minute that they do now as well. Probably deal in weapons and profits from some front companies they run, they have quite a few of those as well. In order to be subordinate to either Congress or the Executive branch, the CIA would have to rely on them for funding, they don't, so they aren't subordinate at all.

[Joanne98]

19. I think they work for Wallstreet!

[dailykoff]

20. One and only one person: the President.

The CIA was chartered in 1947 with 5 functions, including the ones mentioned above (gathering and analyzing intelligence, briefing officials, etc) and a fifth one, which is where the problem comes in, of carrying out national security directives issued by the US president. For example:

"Your job is to blow up that asbestos-filled piece of shit WTC and blame it on Arabs."

"Yes, sir."