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If Feinstein and the CIA kiss and make up, will America up and forget torture? If Feinstein and the CIA kiss and make up, will America up and forget torture?
(6 months later)
“What keeps me up at night, candidly, is another attack against the “What keeps me up at night, candidly, is another attack against the United States,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein said last month in what was, then, her routine defense of the mass global surveillance being conducted by the National Security Agency and other US intelligence agencies.
United States,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein said last month in what was, then, All that has changed now that she believes that the staff of the committee she chairs – the powerful, secretive Senate Select Committee on Intelligence – was spied on and lied to by the CIA.
her routine defense of the mass global surveillance being conducted by The committee was formed after the Watergate scandal engulfed the Nixon administration. The Church Committee, led by Idaho Democratic Sen Frank Church, conducted a comprehensive investigation of abuses by US intelligence agencies, of everything from spying on anti-war protesters to the assassination of foreign leaders. Thus began the modern era of congressional and judicial oversight of US intelligence.
the National Security Agency and other US intelligence agencies. This week’s public spat between CIA-loyalist Feinstein and that agency might briefly upset the status quo, but they will make up. Sadly, it obscures a graver problem: the untold story of the United States’ secret policy of torture and rendition (the latter is White House lingo for “kidnapping”).
All The conflict surrounds the mammoth, classified Intelligence Committee report on this notorious US government program. Feinstein and other senators have sought the declassification of the 6,300-page document. We have now learned from press reports and from a speech Feinstein made on the Senate floor this week that Intelligence Committee staffers were given access to CIA documents at a secure CIA facility, somewhere outside of CIA headquarters. Feinstein described the scene:
that has changed now that she believes that the staff of the committee The CIA started making documents available electronically to the committee staff at the CIA leased facility in mid-2009. The number of pages ran quickly to the thousands, tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands, and then into the millions. The documents that were provided came without any index, without organizational structure. It was a true ‘document dump’ that our committee staff had to go through and make sense of.
she chairs – the powerful, secretive Senate Select Committee on Whether it was in those millions of pages, or provided to the Intelligence Committee staff from a CIA whistleblower, we do not yet know – but a key document surfaced, called the “Internal Panetta Review”, ostensibly named after Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA at the time. Feinstein said in her floor speech:
Intelligence – was spied on and lied to by the CIA. What was unique and interesting about the internal documents was ... their analysis and acknowledgement of significant CIA wrongdoing.
The committee was This “Internal Panetta Review” specifically contradicts the CIA’s own written testimony to the Intelligence Committee. Yes, the CIA was caught in a lie.
formed after the Watergate scandal engulfed the Nixon administration.
The Church Committee, led by Idaho Democratic Sen Frank Church,
conducted a comprehensive investigation of abuses by US intelligence
agencies, of everything from spying on anti-war protesters to the
assassination of foreign leaders. Thus began the modern era of
congressional and judicial oversight of US intelligence.
This week’s public spat between CIA-loyalist Feinstein and that
agency might briefly upset the status quo, but they will make up. Sadly,
it obscures a graver problem: the untold story of the United States’
secret policy of torture and rendition (the latter is White House lingo
for “kidnapping”).
The conflict surrounds the mammoth, classified Intelligence Committee
report on this notorious US government program. Feinstein and other
senators have sought the declassification of the 6,300-page document. We
have now learned from press reports and from a speech Feinstein made on
the Senate floor this week that Intelligence Committee staffers were
given access to CIA documents at a secure CIA facility, somewhere
outside of CIA headquarters. Feinstein described the scene:
The CIA
started making documents available electronically to the committee staff
at the CIA leased facility in mid-2009. The number of pages ran quickly
to the thousands, tens of thousands, the hundreds of thousands, and
then into the millions. The documents that were provided came without
any index, without organizational structure. It was a true ‘document
dump’ that our committee staff had to go through and make sense of.
Whether it was in those millions of pages, or provided to the
Intelligence Committee staff from a CIA whistleblower, we do not yet
know – but a key document surfaced, called the “Internal Panetta Review”, ostensibly named after Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA at the
time. Feinstein said in her floor speech:
What was unique and
interesting about the internal documents was ... their analysis and
acknowledgement of significant CIA wrongdoing.
This “Internal Panetta
Review” specifically contradicts the CIA’s own written testimony to the
Intelligence Committee. Yes, the CIA was caught in a lie.
It doesn’t end there.It doesn’t end there.
Mike German, a fellow at New York University’s Mike German, a fellow at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice who served as an FBI agent specializing in domestic counterterrorism for 15 years, said on the Democracy Now! news hour, “This is really an extraordinary situation. ... This is supposed to be oversight of the CIA that the Senate is doing, not allowing the CIA to set the terms for the oversight of their own work.” Feinstein reported that hundreds of documents originally provided were later deleted by the CIA. Now, to add insult to injury, it turns out the CIA is seeking criminal charges against committee staffers, ostensibly for stealing the Panetta review.
Brennan Center for Justice who served as an FBI agent specializing in The torture was widespread, vicious and conducted in secret “black sites” around the globe. This is what is being lost in the Beltway power struggle between Sen Feinstein and the CIA. Lives have been ruined; some in US detention died violent deaths at the hands of their captors. In the grim American gulag at Guantanamo Bay, hunger-striking prisoners charged with no crime, some of whom have been cleared for release for more than a decade, are subjected to vicious force-feeding and torture techniques that date back to the Spanish Inquisition.
domestic counterterrorism for 15 years, said on the Democracy Now! news hour, “This is really an extraordinary situation. ... This is Let’s hope Feinstein’s indignation is not quickly salved, and that the Intelligence Committee’s oversight of the sprawling US intelligence agencies is invigorated, with real teeth. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden weighed in from political asylum in Russia, saying, “We’re seeing another ‘Merkel Effect’, where an elected official does not care at all that the rights of millions of ordinary citizens are violated by our spies, but suddenly it’s a scandal when a politician finds out the same thing happens to them.”
supposed to be oversight of the CIA that the Senate is doing, not
allowing the CIA to set the terms for the oversight of their own work.”
Feinstein reported that hundreds of documents originally provided were
later deleted by the CIA. Now, to add insult to injury, it turns out the
CIA is seeking criminal charges against committee staffers, ostensibly
for stealing the Panetta review.
The torture was widespread, vicious and conducted in secret “black
sites” around the globe. This is what is being lost in the Beltway power
struggle between Sen Feinstein and the CIA. Lives have been ruined;
some in US detention died violent deaths at the hands of their
captors. In the grim American gulag at Guantanamo Bay, hunger-striking
prisoners charged with no crime, some of whom have been cleared for
release for more than a decade, are subjected to vicious force-feeding
and torture techniques that date back to the Spanish Inquisition.
Let’s hope Feinstein’s indignation is not quickly salved, and that
the Intelligence Committee’s oversight of the sprawling US
intelligence agencies is invigorated, with real teeth. NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden weighed in from political asylum in
Russia, saying, “We’re seeing another ‘Merkel Effect’, where an elected
official does not care at all that the rights of millions of ordinary
citizens are violated by our spies, but suddenly it’s a scandal when a
politician finds out the same thing happens to them.”
• Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.• Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
© 2014 Amy Goodman; distributed by King Features Syndicate© 2014 Amy Goodman; distributed by King Features Syndicate