Breaking News!! CIA Manipulating Briefing Process!!

[babylonsister]

Breaking News!! CIA Manipulating Briefing Process!!
By: emptywheel Friday May 8, 2009 6:49 am


No. Not really breaking. We knew that CIA was playing around with its obligation to inform the intelligence committees before it starts any big new projects--like opening torture factories around the world.

But that's the real story of this briefing list--aside from what a bunch right wingers are claiming it says, the actual details of the briefing list notwithstanding. The real story is that the CIA was playing a bunch of games to be able to claim it had informed Congress, even while only informing some of Congress some things.

First, CIA has officially confirmed what I have been saying for weeks. The CIA first briefed Congress on torture on September 4, 2002, 35 days after CIA purportedly began waterboarding and much longer after we know CIA started torturing Abu Zubaydah. Moreover, we have on the record statements from Pelosi and Goss (and I've had even stronger assurances elsewhere) that CIA did not tell Congress they were already in the business of torture. Their discussions of torture were all prospective, and they may even have stated clearly that they had not used these techniques yet, which (if true) would be a clear and direct lie to Congress.

Second, look at when--according to the CIA's specific assertions--they first talked about waterboarding to members of Congress:

February 4, 2003: Pat Roberts and a Republican and a Democratic staffer (but not Jello Jay); according to the CIA there was no specific mention of waterboarding in the February 5, 2003 briefing for Porter Goss and Jane Harman

July 13, 2004: Porter Goss and Jane Harman

July 15, 2004: Pat Roberts and Jello Jay

Now, it's possible that the people trying to smear Pelosi with this are correct and CIA mentioned waterboarding in September 2002. But that's not what the CIA says. Once you account for the fact that Jello Jay did not attend the February 4 briefing, the CIA says it first informed Democrats about waterboarding in July 2004, only after the CIA's own Inspector General had declared the program cruel and inhuman (and note, the Senate intelligence leaders, at least, got a copy of that document in June 2004, so the CIA couldn't very well pretend that they hadn't been waterboarding).

Note, too, that the CIA claims to have discussed legal issues in the July briefing with Harman and Goss, but not in the July briefing with Jello Jay and Roberts. We know this to be false.


more...

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/05/08/breaking-news-cia-manipulating-briefing-process/

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Occam Bandage]

2. Obviously. The CIA is only attempting to save its own ass

by trying to redirect fire at the Democrats. It's amusing to see how many people here are willing to believe the word of the CIA when it comes to who knew what.

[Xipe Totec]

3. The CYA? Nevah!

I'm shocked! I tells ya!

[pleah]

4. K&R