Judge accuses CIA officials of fraud, unseals secret files

[usregimechange]

WASHINGTON — A federal district judge ruled Monday that the CIA repeatedly misled him in asserting that state secrets were involved in a 15-year-old lawsuit involving allegedly illegal wiretapping.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth also ordered former CIA director George Tenet and five other CIA officials to explain their actions or face potential sanctions.

Lamberth also questioned the credibility of current CIA Director Leon Panetta , saying that Panetta's testimony in the case contained significant discrepancies, and rejected an Obama administration request that the case continue to be kept secret. He released hundreds of previously secret filings.

"The court does not give the government a high degree of deference because of its prior misrepresentations regarding the stated secrets privilege in this case," Lamberth wrote. "Although this case has been sealed since its inception to protect sensitive information, it is clear . . . that many of the issues are unclassified."

Lamberth's ruling comes at a delicate moment for the CIA . House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this year accused the agency of lying to her about its use of waterboarding on suspected terrorists, and the House Intelligence Committee has launched an investigation into why it wasn't told for eight years that the CIA was pursuing a secret plan reportedly aimed at assassinating suspected al Qaida operatives.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090721/pl_mcclatchy/3275804_1


Lamberth, Royce C., Judge, U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia - Nominated by Ronald Reagan on March 19, 1987.

[maglatinavi]

1. Judge Lamberth's decision

I am really, really glad that the judge has the "cojones" to impose the law and truth over politics and/or treason by high officials of the govt. As a yellow democrat, I am really disappointed with the likes of Panetta and even with the potus... it is sad...sad... sad

[snot]

2. K&r'd; AND pls remember to thank McClatchy for reporting this!

[Piewhacket]

3. Good but his 'conversion' seems opportunistily late, alas. Where were his gonads 15 years ago.

[formercia]

4. K&R n/t