CIA chief Hayden is ordering UNUSUAL IF NOT UNPRECEDENTED internal inquiry into agency's watchdog

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: C.I.A. Chief Orders Internal Inquiry
By MARK MAZZETTI and SCOTT SHANE
Published: October 11, 2007

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 — The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, General Michael V. Hayden, has ordered a highly unusual internal inquiry into the work of the agency’s inspector general, whose aggressive investigations of the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation programs and other matters have created resentment among agency operatives.

A small team working for General Hayden is looking into the conduct of the agency’s watchdog office, which is led by Inspector General John L. Helgerson. Current and former government officials said that the review has caused anxiety and anger in Mr. Helgerson’s office and aroused concern on Capitol Hill that it posed a conflict of interest.

The review is focused particularly on complaints that Mr. Helgerson’s office has not acted as a fair and impartial judge of agency operations, but instead began a crusade against those who have participated in controversial detention programs.

Any move by the agency’s director to examine the work of the inspector general would be unusual, if not unprecedented, and would threaten to undermine the independence of the office, according to some current and former officials.

Frederick P. Hitz, who served as C.I.A. inspector general from 1990 to 1998, said he had no first-hand information about current conflicts inside the agency. But he said any move by the agency’s director to examine the work of the inspector general would “not be proper.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/washington/12intel.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[grasswire]

1. pay attention, people

Everybody look what's goin' down.

[Blackhatjack]

2. This is SIGNIFICANT ... K & R

[Chimpy McCokespoon]

3. Civil war between the IG and DCI

The CIA is littered with little fifedoms.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Chimpy -- welcome to DU!!!

[poverlay]

7. Welcome, and may I say: Excellent moniker...n/t

[file83]

8. Best. Nickname. EVER.

:rofl: Welcome to the DU Chimpy McCokespoon!!

[Lochloosa]

21. What he said

:toast:

[bonito]

4. K&R folks

[poverlay]

6. "threaten to undermine the independence of the office"??? Are they insane? It's as clear a signal

as I've ever seen! Anyone who has ever had a boss before knows that.

Ya know...
They used to do blackmail and intimidation in secret...

[file83]

10. Exactly. This isn't a "threat" - it's an attack on the balance of power.

Our government is so fucking corrupt.

[robinlynne]

9. And another inspector general is going after Gonzales...

[Canuckistanian]

11. Oooo, this is good

I wonder who's going to win this one?

[ThomCat]

12. They're going to purge the watchdogs, so that there's truly

no limit to what they can do. Nobody inside will be holding the leash, and nobody outside will be allowed to see what's going on. They'll be free to get away with anything.

[Trillo]

13. Curious syncronicity (probably off topic)

Earlier today I was searching Google news archive and found this item, but the article at the source site is apparently expired, it's the top result as I see it for NSA surveillance:

Hayden insists NSA surveillance is legal
japantoday.com - Sep 11, 2001
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below. "We're protecting The private lives ...
Related web pages

What I found most curious is the date.

[DeepModem Mom]

14. Whoa! Cue "Twilight Zone" theme. nt

[Beam Me Up]

15. Hmmm...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/18/AR2006051800844.html

[Trillo]

24. Yeah, I noted that as well.

I don't know why Google has the date it has, perhaps that's the date japantoday.com re-published it. There are some interesting quotes in that article, given what we know today.


A freudian slip?

Hayden said he decided to go ahead with the terrorist surveillance program in October 2001 after internal discussions about what more the NSA could do to detect potential attacks. He believed the work to be legal and necessary, an assertion Democrats and civil liberties groups have aggressively questioned.

"The math was pretty straightforward," Hayden said. "I could not not do this."

Odd, my eyes missed the double negative in reading the article, I only noted it after cutting and pasting, before then I only perceived one "not". Not a freudian slip, sorry.


"Absolute certitude" of guilt?

"If you're using a 'probable cause' standard as opposed to absolute certitude," he said, "sometimes you may not be right."

Guess that blows presumption of innocence away. 'Probabe cause' is part of the 4th Amendment: 'That damned piece of paper'. So much for an oath to the Constitution.


Move along, nothing to see here.

"I also believe it's time to move past what seems to me to be an endless picking apart of the archaeology of every past intelligence success or failure," he said.

Even as Republicans praised Hayden, senators of both parties said they should have been briefed on the work five years ago. More than one Democrat said he felt deceived.

[annabanana]

16. How can this NOT be a conflict of interest?

If anyone is to investigate the investigator.. It would have to be an OUTSIDE, INDEPENDENT agent. Not the subject of the first person's work.

[Disturbed]

17. Hayden wants to be Gestapo Chief.

He worked for the NSA. He didn't know what the 4th Amendment stated when asked. Of course, the Dems voted him in with a majority. The CIA has violated the Constitution with Torture & Rendition & is going to CYA full tilt mode.

[liberalla]

18. Michael Hayden wants the Medal of Freedom

Further erosion of the CIA orchestrated by its Director... doing the dirty work for B/C.
More dirty work from the past:

Whither the CIA?
By Larry C. Johnson
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Monday 08 May 2006


If the New York Times is correct, John Negroponte and Michael Hayden are hell bent on shifting critical analytical functions from the CIA to some other part of government (perhaps a stand-alone entity). If true, the death knell for the CIA is sounding, and an important national security capability will disappear if they are permitted to institute this madness. While right-wing crazies, convinced that the CIA is part of an elaborate plot to undermine the Bush administration, will celebrate this pyrrhic victory, sane Americans should hit the panic button."

According to the New York Times:
"In recent months, intelligence officials said on Saturday, Mr. Goss fought an effort by Mr. Negroponte to transfer analysts from the agency's Counter Terrorism Center to the new organization. Mr. Goss said in a speech last September to C.I.A. employees that "analysis is the engine that drives the C.I.A."

These changes are being justified based on false conventional wisdom - namely, that the structure and organization of the CIA was the major reason for the failure to stop the 9-11 plot. I am not arguing that everything at the CIA is hunky dory and that reforms are not required. To the contrary, I believe the CIA has become a big, lumbering, broken bureaucracy.

But, for all of the faults and flaws, the CIA is still a remarkable organization capable of amazing things. If you doubt that, simply buy Gary Berntsen's book, Jawbreaker, which recounts the lead role the CIA played in ousting the Taliban from Afghanistan and tracking Bin Laden. Fortunately, the good work by Gary and other CIA officers was not an isolated case. However, the American public will not know most of the stories.

more

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/60/19633

Where's the damn STOP button?

[DeepModem Mom]

22. Thanks for that link, liberalla. Where's the stop button, indeed! nt

[Solly Mack]

19. I want to be surprised. I'd like to be shocked.

but over the last several years... no outrage - no abuse - is too low...

[annabanana]

20. kicking for the early birds. . . n/t

[DeepModem Mom]

23. Just noting -- I see this story is page one, lead, in the print edition today. nt

[loudsue]

25. This makes me sick to my stomach. K & R n/t

:kick:

[PATRICK]

26. I have not heard the Inspector

General speak but I heard hayden's early press conference with alternative press people included. he cannot be trusted to uphold law over raw power. He has no brain room for the law. He is not very bright either. Classic stooge material and likely in over his head when it comes to knowing the responsibility chain. If the NYT backs the Hayden slant they are presenting they are worse than Hayden- or maybe not as bright.