CIA lawyer at center of computer snooping clash

[deminks]

http://www.statejournal.com/story/24950286/cia-lawyer-at-center-of-computer-snooping-clash

WASHINGTON (AP) - The senior CIA lawyer accused by the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee of trying to intimidate the panel over its investigation into secret prisons and brutal interrogations of terrorism suspects was himself involved in the controversial programs. The attorney, the CIA's top lawyer, is cited by name for his role more than 1,600 times in the Senate's unpublished, 6,300-page investigative report, according to the panel's chairwoman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Until the California Democrat's extraordinary Senate speech Tuesday, the CIA's senior deputy general counsel, Robert Eatinger, was little known outside a small cadre of highly specialized national security lawyers. He has maintained a low profile in a legal career that has spanned two decades at the CIA and in the Navy. But Feinstein's remarkable accusations instantly made Eatinger famous - or infamous - over a simmering constitutional dispute that threatens to engulf two branches of the government.

Eatinger had filed a formal criminal complaint earlier this year on behalf of the CIA asking the Justice Department to investigate whether the Senate Intelligence Committee had improperly obtained classified CIA documents for an as-yet unreleased Senate report on the agency's use of waterboarding and other abusive tactics against al-Qaida prisoners during the George W. Bush administration.

Eatinger's move boomeranged Tuesday. Feinstein rose in the Senate chamber to lambaste the CIA for what she described as quietly removing documents the agency had earlier provided to Senate investigators, monitoring committee staffers and undermining congressional authority. Feinstein lashed out at Eatinger personally - though not by name - in accusing the CIA lawyer of "a potential effort to intimidate" committee aides and of providing "inaccurate information" to the Justice Department.

(end snip)

See also Emptywheel:

http://www.emptywheel.net/2014/03/11/robert-eatinger-lawyer-who-approved-torture-tape-destruction-tries-to-intimidate-senate-investigators/

Robert Eatinger, Lawyer Who Approved Torture Tape Destruction, Tries to Intimidate Senate Investigators

Dianne Feinstein just gave a barn burner of a speech explaining the CIA/SSCI fight over the Torture Report. There are a lot of details I’ll return to.

But one of the most important issues, in my mind, is the detail that the Acting General Counsel of the CIA, Robert Eatinger, referred the Senate Intelligence Committee investigators to DOJ for investigation. (h/t to DocexBlog for identifying Eatinger) Feinstein correctly interpreted this as an attempt to intimidate her staffers as they complete the investigation.

And, as Feinstein made clear, Eatinger is a key focus of the report. Feinstein revealed that Eatinger (whom she did not name) was named, by name, (if I heard Feinstein’s claim correctly) 1,600 times in the Torture Report.

At least some of those mentions surely describe CIA’s decision to destroy the torture tapes, an act Eatinger sanctioned.

(end snip)

[Ichingcarpenter]

1. In the Book 'Getting away with Torture''

It traces Eatinger 's compliances to torture all the way back to Cheney and Rumsfied and the basic injustices and coverup of the chain of command for murders and torture at Abu Ghraib when the CIA was dictating the policy there and overseeing the servicemen.
Yet the CIA got off for directing the operation.

http://books.google.dk/books?id=z6u8-njIeMgC&pg=PT137&lpg=PT137&dq=Robert+Eatinger&source=bl&ots=xpMXriPOh8&sig=CmIHh-hnlMD7tPFwKsIr6Inqxyg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hRcgU7LHIKqE4ASrpIDQCA&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAjgU#v=twopage&q=Robert%20Eatinger&f=true

[2banon]

7. the book has disappeared from the link!!!

not surprised.

[bobduca]

2. Kick

for exposure... was going to post this same(?) AP article from the wapo website,

CIA lawyer at center of computer snooping clash

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/cia-lawyer-at-center-of-computer-snooping-clash/2014/03/12/764290e4-a9b6-11e3-8a7b-c1c684e2671f_story.html



WASHINGTON — The top CIA lawyer accused by the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee of trying to intimidate the panel over its investigation into secret prisons and brutal interrogations of terrorism suspects was himself involved in the controversial programs, cited more than 1,600 times in the Senate’s unpublished investigative report, according to the panel’s chairwoman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

[pacalo]

3. K&R.

[jsr]

4. Robert Eatinger's pic:

This video framgrab, taken Oct. 31, 2013, and provided by the American Bar Association (ABA) shows the CIA’s acting general counsel Robert Eatinger speaking during the 23rd Annual Review of the Field of National Security Law, hosted by the ABA Standing Committee on Law and National Security, in Washington. The senior CIA lawyer accused by the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee of trying to intimidate the panel over its investigation into secret prisons and brutal interrogations of terrorism suspects was himself involved in the controversial programs.
ABA — AP Photo

[2banon]

6. bookmarking this one too, thanks!

[2banon]

5. bookmarking..

K and R'd

[Solly Mack]

8. K&R

Why are people too cowardly to call torture torture?

I know I answered my own question.

[KoKo]

9. Kick! Important new stuff with info on Eatinger.

[Agony]

10. Kick nt