[Grovenet] Chaney again! Evil man.

[Ed Davie]

Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project
 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/politics/12intel.html?_r=1&hp  a.. By SCOTT SHANEPublished: July 11, 2009The Central Intelligence Agency withheldinformation about a secret counterterrorismprogram from Congress for eight years on directorders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, theagency's director, Leon E. Panetta, has told theSenate and House intelligence committees, twopeople with direct knowledge of the matter saidSaturday.The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decisionto conceal the still-unidentified program fromCongress deepened the mystery surrounding it,suggesting that the Bush administration had put ahigh priority on the program and its secrecy.Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he firstlearned of its existence from subordinates on June23, briefed the two intelligence committees aboutit in separate closed sessions the next day.Efforts to reach Mr. Cheney through relatives andassociates were unsuccessful.The question of how completely the C.I.A.
 informedCongress about sensitive programs has been hotlydisputed by Democrats and Republicans since May,when Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the agency offailing to reveal in 2002 that it waswaterboarding a terrorism suspect, a claim Mr.Panetta rejected.The law requires the president to make sure theintelligence committees "are kept fully andcurrently informed of the intelligence activitiesof the United States, including any significantanticipated intelligence activity." But thelanguage of the statute, the amended NationalSecurity Act of 1947, leaves some leeway forjudgment, saying such briefings should be done "tothe extent consistent with due regard for theprotection from unauthorized disclosure ofclassified information relating to sensitiveintelligence sources and methods or otherexceptionally sensitive matters."In addition, for covert action programs, aparticularly secret category in which the role ofthe United States is hidden, the law says thatbriefings can be limited to 
 the
 so-called Gang ofEight, consisting of the Republican and Democraticleaders of both houses of Congress and of theirintelligence committees.The disclosure about Mr. Cheney's role in theunidentified C.I.A. program comes a day after aninspector general's report underscored the centralrole of the former vice president's office inrestricting to a small circle of officialsknowledge of the National Security Agency'sprogram of eavesdropping without warrants, adegree of secrecy that the report concluded hurtthe effectiveness of the counterterrorismsurveillance effort.Democrats in Congress, who contend that the covertaction provision was abused to cover up programsunder President Bush, are seeking to change thelaw to permit the full committees to be briefed onmore matters. President Obama, however, hasthreatened to veto the intelligence authorizationbill if the changes go too far, and the proposalis now being negotiated by the White House and theintelligence committees.A spokesman for 
 the
 intelligence agency, PaulGimigliano, declined on Saturday to comment on thereport of Mr. Cheney's role."It's not agency practice to discuss what may ormay not have been said in a classified briefing,"Mr. Gimigliano said. "When a C.I.A. unit broughtthis matter to Director Panetta's attention, itwas with the recommendation that it be sharedappropriately with Congress. That was also hisview, and he took swift, decisive action to put itinto effect."Bill Harlow, a spokesman for George J. Tenet, whowas the C.I.A. director when the unidentifiedprogram began, declined to comment on Saturday,noting that the program remains classified.Intelligence and Congressional officials have saidthe unidentified program did not involve theC.I.A. interrogation program and did not involvedomestic intelligence activities. They have saidthe program was started by the counterterrorismcenter at the C.I.A. shortly after the attacks ofSept. 11, 2001, but never became fullyoperational, involving planning 
 and some
 trainingthat took place off and on from 2001 until thisyear."Because this program never went fully operationaland hadn't been briefed as Panetta thought itshould have been, his decision to kill it wasneither difficult nor controversial," oneintelligence official, who would speak about theclassified program only on condition of anonymity."That's worth remembering amid all the drama."Members of Congress have differed on thesignificance of the program, whose details remainsecret. Most of those interviewed, however, havesaid that it was an important activity that theyfelt should have been disclosed.In the eight years of his vice presidency, Mr.Cheney was the Bush administration's most vehementdefender of the secrecy of government activities,particularly in the intelligence arena. He went tothe Supreme Court to keep secret the advisers tohis task force on energy, and won.A report released on Friday by the inspectorsgeneral of five agencies about the NationalSecurity Agency's dome
 stic
 surveillance programmakes clear that Mr. Cheney's legal adviser, DavidS. Addington, had to personally approve everygovernment official who was told about theprogram. The report said "the exceptionallycompartmented nature of the program" frustratedF.B.I. agents who were assigned to follow up ontips it turned up.High-level N.S.A. officials who were responsiblefor ensuring that the surveillance program waslegal, including the agency's inspector generaland general counsel, were not permitted by Mr.Cheney's office to read the Justice Departmentopinion that found the eavesdropping legal,several officials said.Mr. Addington could not be reached for comment onSaturday.Questions over the adequacy and the truthfulnessof the C.I.A.'s briefings for Congress date backto the creation of the intelligence oversightcommittees in the 1970s after disclosures ofagency assassination and mind-control programs andother abuses. But complaints increased in the Bushyears, when the C.I.A. and other
 intelligenceagencies took the major role in pursuing Al Qaeda.The use of harsh interrogation methods, includingwaterboarding, for instance, was first describedto a handful of lawmakers for the first time inSeptember 2002. Ms. Pelosi and the C.I.A. havedisagreed about what she was told, but in anycase, the briefing occurred only after a terrorismsuspect, Abu Zubaydah, had been waterboarded 83times.Representative Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat ofIllinois on the House committee, wrote on Fridayto the chairman, Representative Silvestre Reyes,Democrat of Texas, to demand an investigation ofthe unidentified program and why Congress was nottold of it. Aides said Mr. Reyes was reviewing thematter."There's been a history of difficulty in gettingthe C.I.A. to tell us what they should," saidRepresentative Adam Smith, Democrat of Washington."We will absolutely be held accountable foranything the agency does."Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, thecommittee's top Republican, said he w
 ould
 notjudge the agency harshly in the case of theunidentified program, because it was not fullyoperational. But he said that in general, theagency has not been as forthcoming as the lawrequires."We have to pull the information out of them toget what we need," Mr. Hoekstra said.