Secret CIA Program Was "Intelligence-Collection Activity"

The Washington Post has more details on the secret program that CIA Director Leon Panetta revealed this week had been hidden from Congress since 2001.

Current and former administration officials familiar with the program said it was not directly related to previously disclosed high-priority programs such as detainee interrogations or the warrantless surveillance of suspected terrorists on U.S. soil. It was a intelligence-collection activity run by the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, officials said. It was not a covert action, which by law would have required a presidential finding and a report to Congress.

"This characterization of something that began in 2001 and continued uninterrupted for eight years is just wrong. Honest men would question that characterization. It was more off and on," said a former top Bush administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the issue.

A Bush administration official told the paper he was certain that, if the nature of the program could be revealed, it would be seen as "no big deal."

However, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) told the Huffington Post that when she and other members of the House Intelligence Committee found out what was kept secret "the whole committee was stunned, even Republicans." And Newsweek reported that while an official said, "'You could argue that it never really took shape' ... The implication is that whatever the details of the program, it carried risks that some officials at the agency strongly felt might not be worth taking."

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Comments

[JohnHKennedy]

02:09 PM on 07/11/2009

Intellegence collecting my foot.....

This was probably

Cheney's Executive Assassination squad?
That reported only to Cheney?

Does the CIA control our government or does our government(the Congress)control the CIA. IF the CIA refuses to report to the Congress, cut their budget.

Only God knows what abuses the CIA, the NSA and the FBI are hiding. When we get to the point where we as a people cannot trust our public agencies not to break the law we are in real danger of losing our freedoms.

This must be investigated
IN PUBLIC CONGRESSIONAL COMMISSION HEARINGS
and all violations of law and abuses of power prosecuted.

Keep the pressure on the Democrats to investigate and Prosecute.

SIGN THE PETITION
calling for a special prosecutor at ANGRYVOTERS.ORG

http://ANGRYVOTERS.ORG

Over 250,000 have signed
Join them and call yourself a Patriot

[SouthPrairie]

08:22 PM on 07/10/2009

If people do not think that the Administration does not need to tread carefully, they are naive. I trust Panetta and believe that he will do the right thing for America's security and America's Constitutional integrity; however, it is a balance and all you folks out their who smell republican blood need to comprehend. The picture is a bit bigger I do not think that a pitchfork and torch mentality will serve us well.

We need to methodically and thoroughly seek justice, seek truth, seek without innuendo; seek without political slant; seek to shine the light of TRUTH and then we will have the capacity to:

.I.n.d.i.c.t.;. .C.o.n.v.i.c.t.;. .S.e.n.t.e.n.c.e..

I only pray that our duly elected leaders have the courage to not shrink away from the truth and that moral Republicans p.u.r.g.e. themselves of this .c.o.r.r.u.p.t.i.v.e. .v.i.r.u.s.

[Montgriz]

06:21 PM on 07/10/2009

Apparently, none of this is a big deal since the Obama people are refusing to follow up with appropriate action.....Change we were supposed to believe in is the same old same old....

[judiNJ]

05:47 PM on 07/10/2009

Wow! Ok, now they have me asking, "What is it, what is it?" Someone will leak this, I am sure of it. Please hurry, now my hair is on fire.

[jimbeaux1961]

05:27 PM on 07/10/2009

Bush Admin officials have already admitted to torture, kidnapping, and murder. Nothing's a "big deal" as far as they're concerned.

[jimbeaux1961]

05:22 PM on 07/10/2009

RNC SERVES PUREED INFANT AT FUND RAISER: BUSH ADMIN OFFICIAL "IT'S NO BIG DEAL"

[Telemachus]

05:59 PM on 07/10/2009

As long as it was born first.

[Dystopic]

06:12 PM on 07/10/2009

yeah. once it takes it's first breath, it's open to exploitation

[plaidsportcoat]

05:18 PM on 07/10/2009

"strongly felt might not be worth taking."

That does NOT make sense. Either they strongly felt it was NOT worth taking, or it was mildly felt that it might not be worth taking. So, that's sort of a lie, too.

[plaidsportcoat]

05:16 PM on 07/10/2009

"Honest men would question that characterization. It was more off and on," said a former top Bush administration official"
Come ON! That is Ridiculous - a Bush administration person couldn't recognize honest men if they were the last food on earth.

[Chaimirija]

04:30 PM on 07/10/2009

Hmmm, I wonder what they did?

[shinxy]

04:43 PM on 07/10/2009

My bet is on cold-blooded murder.

[Clearing-Brush]

04:48 PM on 07/10/2009

Already done. Try again.

[floridafun]

10:49 PM on 07/10/2009

remember the killing of russian spies a year or 2 ago? hmmm.

[lungfish]

04:16 PM on 07/10/2009

If it was "no big deal" then why was the entire Intel Comm "stunned" at the revelation and why was it kept from the new Director of CIA for six months? And why did he discontinue it immediately upon notification and initiate and investigation???

No big deal.... to the GOP torture is no big deal. Nullifying the Constitution is no big deal. Invading countries on false pretenses and killing hundreds of thousands of noncombatants is no big deal... and so on.

Apparently, misleading and lying to Congress and ducking oversight is no big deal, either. But that has been standard GOP operating procedure for most of the last decade...

The GOP have no crediblity on anything.

[justoverit333]

03:30 PM on 07/10/2009

Whatever this program entailed was pretty bad
if everyone, including members of the Party of No
were shocked and awed.

[Chaimirija]

04:31 PM on 07/10/2009

Is the real problem that the CIA was told to lie by the last administration?

[spinns17]

03:20 PM on 07/10/2009

http://www.hereinreality.com/carlyle.html

[WeMustSpeakOut]

01:46 PM on 07/10/2009

This guy looks like Eeyore in every photograph.

[kindGSL]

02:19 PM on 07/10/2009

He looks sadder in every picture. Is that because of newsroom choices or a reflection of his gathering doom?

For those who don't read all the comments, I wanted to bump this from page one,

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/truth-and-friends/

It is an interview that ran on TV. Why did it take so long to uncover this?

[Derelict outlaw]

01:11 PM on 07/10/2009

The Insurance industry is Too Big To Fail, The Banks are too big to Fail, the Former President/VP/SECDEF/AG are too big to prosecute.

[Cybersquirt]

03:23 PM on 07/10/2009

:)

Still, I'm not going to hold my breath.

[kevinz]

01:02 PM on 07/10/2009

No big deal! lets bomb the crap out of Iraqis for thier non existence WMDS no big deal! We will tell congress later no big deal! American soldiers dying in battle fields, no big deal!