Seven Former CIA Directors Ask Pres. Obama to End Criminal Investigation of CIA Interrogators

Seven former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency sent a letter to Pres. Obama on Friday asking him to reverse Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to re-open a criminal investigation of CIA interrogations that took place following the attacks of September 11:

Seven former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency on Friday urged President Obama to reverse Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to hold a criminal investigation of CIA interrogators who used enhanced techniques on detainees.

The directors, whose tenures span back as far as 35 years, wrote a letter to the president saying the cases have already been investigated by the CIA and career prosecutors, and to reconsider those decisions makes it difficult for agents to believe they can safely follow legal guidance.

“Attorney General Holder’s decision to re-open the criminal investigation creates an atmosphere of continuous jeopardy for those whose cases the Department of Justice had previously declined to prosecute,” they wrote.

“Those men and women who undertake difficult intelligence assignments in the aftermath of an attack such as September 11 must believe there is permanence in the legal rules that govern their actions,” the seven added.

The letter was signed by former directors Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet, John Deutch, R. James Woolsey, William Webster and James R. Schlesinger.

You can read the full text of the letter here.

President Obama would do well to heed the of advice messieurs  Hayden, Goss, Tenet, Deutch, Woolsey, Webster and Schlesinger… There is no good that can come from opening this can worms.

The President has already banned the use of the interrogation techniques in question and previously declared the CIA personnel who used them after September 11 would not be charged. By allowing Attorney General Holder to continue this ill-advised investigation the President will undermine the ability of CIA officers to to do their jobs effectively. More over there is no guarantee the investigation will remain narrowly focused. There is the very real risk that this investigation may ultimately undermine the ability of this president and his successors to obtain candid legal advice, as lawyers fear they may in turn by scapegoated by a future administration.

President Obama should stand by his commitment to the CIA and end this investigation before it poisons this country for years to come by criminalizing policy differences.

Association of Former Intelligence Officers Responds to Nancy Pelosi

Gene Poteat, president of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, offers the following statement on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s claim that the CIA lied to her in their briefings:

Those CIA officers chosen to brief the Congress, and especially the intelligence committees, are very senior, experienced officers, who well know the reputation and future of the CIA, as well as their own jobs, are on the line should they be perceived as not telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Such restrictions, however, do not apply to members of the Congress when they then appear before the public.

Ouch!

John Larson Backs Pelosi, Calls CIA Liars

I found this clip over at Johnny Dollar’s place… It’s mainly about Nancy Pelosi but listen to Congressman John Larson’s (D-CT) remarks at the beginning of the clip:

Am I crazy or did he just call the CIA liars?

H/T: Hot Air.

Leon Panetta: Angency Briefed Lawmakers Truthfully in 2002

CIA Director Leon Panetta today released a statement defending his agency from charges that it mislead mmeber of Congress:

There is a long tradition in Washington of making political hay out of our business. It predates my service with this great institution, and it will be around long after I’m gone. But the political debates about interrogation reached a new decibel level yesterday when the CIA was accused of misleading Congress.

Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing “the enhanced techniques that had been employed.” Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened.

My advice—indeed, my direction—to you is straightforward: ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission. We have too much work to do to be distracted from our job of protecting this country.

We are an Agency of high integrity, professionalism, and dedication. Our task is to tell it like it is—even if that’s not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it.

The bottom line here is this no longer a partisan issue… Republicans are calling her a liar and now, by implication, so is the White House. Speaker Pelosi has painted Democrats into a corner and she very well end up being sacrificed for the good of the party.

Related

• Analysis: Democrats’ risky focus on torture – Examiner.com
• Panetta Defends CIA Briefing – Wall Street Journal
• Pelosi admits waterboard briefing – Washington Times
• Speaker’s Comments Raise Detainee Debate to New Level – Washington Post
• Pelosi’s Fancy Footwork – Dana Milbank
• Gingrich: Pelosi ‘Lied,’ ‘Despicable,’ ‘Dishonest,’ ‘Vicious,’ ‘Trivial’ – The Note, ABC News.
• The CIA Replies: It is Pelosi Who is Lying – NewMajority.com
• Video: Kit Bond says CIA doesn’t brief on rejected techniques – Hot Air

Top Pelosi Aide Briefed on Enhanced Interrogations in 2003

The Washington Post on Saturday reported that a top aide to Nancy Pleosi attended a briefing CIA briefing on Enhanced Interrogations, including waterboarding in 2003:

A top aide to  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a CIA briefing in early 2003 in which it was made clear that waterboarding and other harsh techniques were being used in the interrogation of an alleged al-Qaeda operative, according to documents the CIA released to Congress on Thursday.

Pelosi has insisted that she was not directly briefed by Bush administration officials that the practice was being actively employed. But Michael Sheehy, a top Pelosi aide, was present for a classified briefing that included  Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), then the ranking minority member of the House intelligence committee, at which agency officials discussed the use of waterboarding on terrorism suspect Abu Zubaida.

A Democratic source acknowledged yesterday that it is almost certain that Pelosi would have learned about the use of waterboarding from Sheehy. Pelosi herself acknowledged in a December 2007 statement that she was aware that Harman had learned of the waterboarding and had objected in a letter to the CIA’s top counsel.

This would seem to conform earlier reports that Sen Pelosi new what was going on and didn’t raise objections until it was politically expedient. As far  as I can tell Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) was the only member of Congress to raise questions at the time.

Regardless these tit for tat politically motivated leaks have to stop… Barack Obama opened this can of worms with the release of the OLC memos on Enhanced Interrogations, since then we’ve seen a series of competing leaks designed for political advantage.

It’s time to make the complete record available… As Ed Morrissey notes:

We need to see all of the documentation, with only the most sensitive information redacted, in order to know exactly what was done, who ordered it, who approved it, and who knew about it — and what we discovered as a result of it.

Only by getting all of the information on the table can we have an informed, rational discussion about methods, values, and responsibilities.  Obama opened Pandora’s Box, and now we need to let it all escape in order to get the full picture.  The drip-drip-drip leaks and releases are akin to a Chinese water torture on rational discussion of this topic, irony definitely intended.

Previous

• CIA Says Pelosi Was Briefed on Use of ‘Enhanced Interrogations’
• No Criminal Prosecution for ‘Torture Memo’ Authors?

CIA Says Pelosi Was Briefed on Use of ‘Enhanced Interrogations’

The Washington Post and ABC News are reporting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed on Enhanced Interrogations Techniques and their use on on Abu Zubaydah.

From the Washington Post:

Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.

In a 10-page memo outlining an almost seven-year history of classified briefings, intelligence officials said that Pelosi and then-Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) were the first two members of Congress ever briefed on the interrogation tactics. Then the ranking member and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, respectively, Pelosi and Goss were briefed Sept. 4, 2002, one week before the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The memo, issued by the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency to Capitol Hill, notes the Pelosi-Goss briefing covered “EITs including the use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah.” EIT is an acronym for enhanced interrogation technique. Zubaydah was one of the earliest valuable al-Qaeda members captured and the first to have the controversial tactic known as water boarding used against him.

ABC News adds:

On Feb. 4, 2003, a briefing on “enhanced interrogation techniques” for Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., revealed that interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri were taped.

In addition, that briefing “described in considerable details” the techniques used, including “how the water board was used.”

A similar briefing the following day included Goss and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., who by that time had become the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, when Pelosi moved on to become minority leader.

The report is accompanied by a letter from CIA Director Leon Panetta to intelligence committee leaders that describes the way it was compiled: “This letter presents the most thorough information we have on dates, locations, and names of all Members of Congress who were briefed by the CIA on enhanced interrogation techniques. This information, however, is drawn from the past files of the CIA and represents [memorandums for the record] completed at the time and notes that summarized the best recollections of those individuals. In the end, you and the Committee will have to determine whether this information is an accurate summary of what actually happened. We can make the MFRs available at CIA for staff review.

Someone has some explaining to do… Madam Speaker is either an outright liar or she has very bad memory. Either it seems pretty clear that the CIA has decided not to take the heat on enhanced interrogations alone. I suspect by now Barack Obama realizes what monumentally foolish mistake it was to release the Office of Legal Counsel memos on Enhanced Interrogations Techniques… As this leak shows top members of Congress were apparently briefed on the techniques and their use, and apparently didn’t raise objections their use.

Human Events has the list of briefings including names, dates and times, here.