Feingold Hits Obama’s Intel Chief: You’re Wrong, CIA Officials May Have Broken Law
I told you last week that it was a big deal when Obama’s top intelligence guy defended that secret, controversial CIA program as legal, because it’s bound to result in a standoff between Congressional Dems and the White House.
Now Senator Russ Feingold is directly challenging the White House on the issue. I’ve obtained a terse, toughly-worded letter that Feingold has fired off to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, faulting him for saying it was legal for the CIA to launch the secret program without telling Congress, and demanding that he account for the claim — a move that could put the White House in an awkward spot.
Feingold was responding to Blair’s comments to The Washington Post, in which he claimed the CIA didn’t break the law by heeding Dick Cheney’s request to keep Congress in the dark about plans to create small teams to assassinate Al Qaeda leaders. In his letter, which hasn’t yet been released, Feingold says:
According to a story on Thursday in the Washington Post, you stated that the failure to notify the congressional intelligence committees about a program recently cancelled by CIA Director Leon Panetta did not violate the law. I disagree and believe that the program in question fit squarely within the notification requirements of the National Security Act. I therefore request that you provide me with your analysis, and any analysis by the DNI General Counsel, supporting your conclusion.
Feingold’s gauntlet creates an awkward choice for the White House. It can either walk back Blair’s comments, or openly defend the program as legal, putting the White House at odds with House Dems who are probing the program for possible lawbreaking. It’ll interesting to see how the White House defends the CIA’s program’s legality — or whether it does.
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Update: Feingold’s spokesperson says that his letter is raising questions specifically about the legality of not informing Congress of the program. He has not publicly commented on the legality of the program itself, though he’s privately raised concerns about it to the White House. Since absolute precision is required on such matters, I’ve edited the above to reflect this, though some will see this as a distinction without a difference.
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Good on Senator Feingold for calling him out. Like I said before these people like Blair and Panetta are of course trying to build up their cred with their rank and file by defending them but they are goign about it the wrong way. They can keep from throwing their people to the wolves without just out and out lying or playing word games with the tense of their words. The truth is they are making it worse because there are more people than just Sen Feingold who will not allow them to make those kinds of statements without demanding that they back them up.
Regretfully there is a core in every Democratic WH that believe in keeping the “establishment view” front and center. The papers report that CIA officers objected strongly to the tactic used by some of their colleagues and contracters (we now hite thigs). So let’s have all these cross-currents reviwed/
OOps : “hire thugs”
Health care or investigate secret CIA program. Can Congress really do both?
Republicans overwhelmingly support going after Clinton for blow jobs but Cheney missuses his authority and puts strain on and creates rifts in our intelligence community causing many to leave is now a time to just let things pass?
Something tells me that the Obama Whitehouse looks fondly on Sen Feingold’s words. It would be nice to see Congress ably taken up the task of oversight and ensuring that Congressional laws are followed by agencies falling under the Exec. branch.
Thank you Feingold. As former AG Gonzales needs disbarment for all the Title 18’s broken. No man is ever sorry only he is sorry for the worse act in Modern American History. This entire ordeal is the abuse of technolgy and telecommunication. The entire world as read the United States Torture program. Yesterday to read Agents used electric shock on teeth. Having Teeth in a baggie from Torture needs a prosecute. The CIA extended the practice of Jose Mengele. Eric Holder needs to prosecute for the sake of everyone. That is how to teach a lesson BACK.
You have an error in your post…”faulting him for saying it was legal for Congress to launch the secret program without telling Congress”. I suggest you edit it to ” for CIA launch the secret program”.
I do think there is a clear distinction between the program being illegal and the illegality being the lack of notification. Without knowing about the program, it is impossible to determine the legality. The law that has been violated relates only to the requirement for briefing Congress.
All that said, Feingold has always been my hero.
How could Gonzalez’s justice department be trusted to investigate abuse in torture programs they helped to create? Besides, there’s no statute of limitations on murder and torture (or conspiracy, accessory, etc.). Investigators pursue “old” cases all the time. Why a failed investigation by a failed AG reason not to investigate here?.
Typo Alert! The line “…for saying it was legal for Congress to launch the secret program without telling Congress.” should probably say “…for saying it was legal for *CIA* to launch the secret program without telling Congress.” (Since absolute precision is required on such matters and all
.
Bravo to Feingold! Blair has egg on his face and should retract his remarks. It does not seem that he was authorized to say that it was legal for the CIA to run a secret program without telling Congress. It would have been intersting, though, if they HAD asked Congress for approval – would Congress have said yes?
Greg: Can I suggest another update/edit? You write: “Feingold was responding to Blair’s comments . . . in which he claimed the CIA didn’t break the law by heeding Dick Cheney’s request to keep Congress in the dark.”
Nowhere in that article did Blair make any mention of Cheney or of “heeding” to his alleged request. That is simply not accurate on your part.
@ sbj, and again. 90% of your time telling us your not a Republican and the other 10% defending them. Just admit sbj, just admit it.
@chris: I think it’s rather important to note that Blair has not said that Cheney told the CIA to conceal this “program.” (I’m a registered Libertarian.)
@ sbj, yes you keep telling us that but you know it’s not true.
Charlie–I am sure Congress would have said yes to any program targeting bin Laden. After all we are conducting wars to kill him and his associates. Philip Bobbitt in his interesting book Terror and Consent points out that we HIRE people to keep us safe and that they are expected to do so by any means necessary. No jury will ever convict a CIA officer of torturing, say, KSM. We would all be wise to keep in mind that the US was attacked and that we are at war.
“faulting him for saying it was legal for Congress to launch the secret program without telling Congress, and demanding that he account for the claim”
Should be a very interesting accounting . . .
We would all be wise to keep in mind that the US was attacked and that we are at war.
go find a police state where you would be comfortable. and the fact that congress would approve of any plan to kill terrorists leads a thinking person to wonder whether the secret plan was to do something else, hence its secrecy. not you, though.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ijAmf13jjYPJYRC3SXlEYdZfR7nQD99IBGD02
BREAKING: A federal judge has ruled that CIA officials committed fraud to protect a former covert agent against a lawsuit.
he problem (as usual) is that we never seem to go back far enough. Cheney’s been “involved” since Panama, which he directed. I know Sy Hersh is working on a book on the subject, but should it have to take that?
We need to investigate everything, even JFK, because the people who are behind everything wrong in the USA are the same cast of characters behind Chile, Guatemala, Nicaragua, importation and laundering of drugs, IranContra, Watergate, and bad things all over the world.
russ feingold; the reincarnation of frank church?