Dems: CIA May Have Misled Congress Five Times Since 2001

Dems: CIA May Have Misled Congress Five Times Since 2001

thehill.com

Intelligence subcommittee Chairwomen Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) are leading an ongoing investigation into what they described as a practice of incomplete and often misleading intelligence briefings, which arose in the wake of CIA Director Leon Panetta’s June 24 admission that intelligence officials failed to notify Congress about a top-secret program to assassinate top al Qaeda leaders.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Not that it's surprising to ATSers that the CIA operates pretty much as it wants to, without either the oversight of congress or even the appearance of concern for what legislators or citizens might have to say about their activities...

...no, what's surprising is to see the CIA being called out about these things. Read the comments sections to recent articles about the CIA from major media outlets and you'll actually see people calling for the CIA to be disbanded! Interesting times, indeed.

Here's my question: if you manage to back the CIA into a corner and force it to answer for its deeds, how should you expect it to react?

If only John F. Kennedy were around to let us know.

thehill.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm not among the people who think the CIA is necessarily a bad thing. But they do need Constitutional Reform.

On topic, however, I too am surprised to find that they are actually being called out. I would like to see a bi-partisan effort to reform the CIA. This should most certainly not be a partisan issue, but in no time at all, it will be. We should all be willing to make sure that ANY government agency of ANY purpose is operating withing the confines of the law, AND THEIR CHARTER.

Kinda Ironic that the group that makes it a profession to constantly mislead the public are they themselves irate because they were mislead.

5 times in 8 years is nothing compared to the number of times they have mislead us.

Investigate away if you must.

reply to post by jam321


Over the many decades the CIA has been operating, they have been known to skirt the boundary, or in some cases overstep their boundary, by operating within the borders of the United States. According to their charter(like a mission statement but with the weight of the law and much more detail), the CIA may not operate within the US against the American People. They have been known, however, to screen and even question members of congress, governors, Federal aviation officials, and even state and local civilian and law enforcement personnel. This sort of activity has been historically agreed upon to be a catalyst to oppressive behaviors by governments all over the world. I'm of the opinion that, like the Federal Reserve Audit bill, we should draft and debate legislation to fully audit (within reason) all operations of the CIA as well as a full audit of their finances.

[edit on 28-10-2009 by projectvxn]

Originally posted by jam321
Kinda Ironic that the group that makes it a profession to constantly mislead the public are they themselves irate because they were mislead.

5 times in 8 years is nothing compared to the number of times they have mislead us.

Oh, don't get me wrong--I have no love for congress. I just find it interesting that the spotlight's being turned on the CIA right now and people seem to be getting behind these reports of possible investigations. Five times in eight years is the MOST conservative estimate imaginable! Those numbers reflect only the most obvious abuses of trust/power.

Truth is, we don't have a single United States Government. We have as many independently-operating factions as there are Top-Secret clearances and black budget line items and denials of information due to a lack of need-to-know. The CIA is simply the most blatant in its disregard for the three constitutionally-provided branches of our government and the one that happens to be in the mainstream media's hot seat for once.

reply to post by beatnietzsche

Thats nothing.The CIA and the NSA are always giving Obama and his office false intelligent reports and sattalite images.They did it with bush and clinton.It all comes down to deception and a need to know basis.Obama would do his nut if he knew the truth.Some names changed and left out.Some locations changed and hidden.

Not all of the CIA but part of the CIA is not going to take this kindly.
There will be retaliation and deaths.
Since even before Vietnam & Air America, parts of the CIA have been supported by drug money. The lust for power / Patriotism by any means necessary has created a very powerful enemy to freedom.

reply to post by jam321


Agreed. In fact, I highly suspect that this is just a little Democratic misdirection to take attention away from the problems they're having on healthcare reform and focus it on one of their favorite targets, the military and intelligence agencies during the Bush years. Granted, I'm not real fan of the CIA, but Congress isn't exactly honest in their motives, either.