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Central Intelligence Agency

What Obama Is Up Against

Russ Baker | Posted 11.04.2009 | Politics

Read More: John F. Kennedy, Central Intelligence Agency, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Military Industrial Complex, Harry Truman, President Obama, George W. Bush, Obama, Bob Woodward, Bush Administration Torture, Robert Gates, George H.W. Bush, Richard Nixon, National Security, Gerald Ford, Nancy Pelosi, Congressional Oversight, Fdr, Hamid Karzai, Bill Clinton, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Bush Administration, Dwight Eisenhower, Cia, Military Spending, Stanley McChrystal, Jimmy Carter, Prescott Bush, Allen Dulles, Lyndon Johnson, Iraq, Torture, Politics News
Russ Baker

We Americans harbor a quaint belief that a new president takes charge of a government that eagerly awaits his next command. But that's not how things work at the top, especially where "national security" is concerned.

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Karzai's Brother On C.I.A. Payroll: NYT

AP | Posted 10.28.2009 | World

Read More: Karzai, Central Intelligence Agency, Cia, Afghanistan, Karzai Brother, Afghanistan Karzai Brother, CIA Afghanistan, Karzai Brother Cia, Cia Karzai Brother Payroll, Ahmed Wali Karzai, Afghanistan Karzai Brother Cia, Afghanistan War, World News

WASHINGTON — Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the president of Afghanistan, gets regular payments from the CIA and has for much of the past eig...

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Let's Be Intelligent About Social Media Intelligence

Karthika Muthukumaraswamy | Posted 10.27.2009 | Media

Read More: In-Q-Tel, Social Media, Monitoring, Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Michael Hayden, Media News
Karthika Muthukumaraswamy

While increased social media use by the government for enhanced communication is great, monitoring public information that is not authorized for such purposes raises privacy concerns.

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Predator Drone Strikes Increasing, Carrying Out Operations For Pakistan

Huffington Post | Posted 10.21.2009 | Politics

Read More: Reaper-Drones, New America Foundation, Central Intelligence Agency, The New Yorker, Pakistan Taliban, Pakistan, Obama Administration, Predator, Zardari, New Yorker, Cia, Jane Mayer, Pakistani Government, Predator Drones, Politics News

The Obama Administration has increased the scope of the U.S. government's two drone programs, writes Jane Mayer in an article in the New Yorker. "Acc...

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Why Terrorists Never Have Gotten Hold of a Nuke and Why the Taliban Won't Be First

Keith Thomson | Posted 10.17.2009 | World

Read More: Russia, Central Intelligence Agency, Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism, Pakistan, Taliban, Rawalpindi, Hillary Clinton, Loose Nukes, India, World News
Keith Thomson

Say the Pakistani government somehow falls to the Taliban. With a maniac at the button, cities in the Pakistani arsenal's 2,500-kilometer range could get turned into vacant lots.

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The President in Chains

Gary Hart | Posted 09.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Bush Administration, National Security, Gary Hart, Matters of Principle, Military, Central Intelligence Agency, Constitution, Gary Wills, Department of Defense, George W. Bush, Obama Administration, Air Force, National Security Council, Politics News
Gary Hart

The national security state has become a kind of powerful prison with the president as warden. He has authority over it, but he cannot escape it.

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More CIA Documents to Be Disclosed Monday

Washington Independent | Posted 09.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: Torture Documents, Torture Docs, Dick Cheney, CIA Documents, Central Intelligence Agency, Cia Docs, Politics News

The deluge continues. Word comes that in response to pending requests from the American Civil Liberties Union, another tranche of CIA documents about ...

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"We're Going to Kill Your Children": The CIA Inspector General's Report

Joseph A. Palermo | Posted 09.25.2009 | Politics

Read More: Rendition, Waterboarding, Detainees, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA Interrogations, Torture, George W. Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, CIA Interrogators, Attorney General Eric Holder, Glen Beck, Robert F. Kennedy, Dick Cheney, Waterboard, Savak, CIA Torture Policies, Sean Hannity, CIA Prisoners, Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, 9-11, CIA Inspector General, John Durham, Dina, Orden, Politics News
Joseph A. Palermo

A.G. Holder's appointment of John Durham to investigate this sordid episode should be only the first step in a wholesale reevaluation of American national security priorities in the post-9-11 world.

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Friday Talking Points [90] -- Obama To Switch Parties

Chris Weigant | Posted 09.21.2009 | Politics

Read More: Daisy Dukes, White House, Table, Medicare for All, Legalize, Barney Frank, Progressives, Fiction, Reform, Catnip, Rube Goldberg, Blackwater, Midotw, Nancy Pelosi, Assassination, Most Impressive Democrat of the Week, Health Care, Budget Reconciliation, Reid, Nancy Reagan, Reconciliation, Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Terrorism, Mexico, Shorts, Terrorist, Massachusetts, Democrat, Kathleen Sebelius, Congress, Planet, Democrats, Lie, Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama, Decriminalize, Mddotw, Health, Blue Dogs, Harry Reid, Vacation, Falsehood, Healthcare, Senate, George Bush, President Obama, Central Intelligence Agency, Ronald Reagan, Senator, Tom Ridge, Cia, Kennedy, Cat's Cradle, Drugs, Decriminalization, Iraq, Obama, Democratic, Dining Room Table, Media, Truth to Crazy, Media Catnip, Friday Talking Points, Republican, Bush, Pelosi, Edward Kennedy, Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week, Obama Switches Parties, Speaker, Sebelius, Ridge, Two Bills, Michelle Obama, House, Aides, What Planet, Terror Alert, Obama to Switch Parties, Teddy Kennedy, Mainstream Media, Progressive, Grand Canyon, Chris Weigant, Naked Guy on a Plane, Senator Kennedy, Afghanistan, George W Bush, Healthcare Reform, Nazi, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Ted Kennedy is putting both his legacy and his sense of entitlement to his office before the interests of his constituents.

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C.I.A. Sought Blackwater's Help In Plan To Kill Jihadists

AP | PAMELA HESS | Posted 09.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Erik Prince, Central Intelligence Agency, Cia, Blackwater, Terrorism, Private Security Contractors, Terror Suspects, Blackwater USA, Xe, Al Qaeda, Politics News

WASHINGTON — The CIA hired private contractors from Blackwater USA in 2004 as part of a secret program to kill top-level members of al-Qaida, bu...

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Hagel Joining Intelligence Oversight Board Neglected by Bush, Obama

Frank Naif | Posted 09.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: John Brennan, Obama National Security, Central Intelligence Agency, Chuck Hagel, Intelligence Oversight Board, National Security, Piab, Politics News
Frank Naif

Chuck Hagel, former Republican Senator from Nebraska, Vietnam veteran, and short-lister for various Obama national security cabinet posts, is soon to be named to the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.

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CIA Director Panetta: Reform Suffers for Bush Apparatchiks and Spy Chiefs

Frank Naif | Posted 09.10.2009 | Politics

Read More: Central Intelligence Agency, Cia, National Security, CIA Torture, Obama Administration, Washington Post, Leon Panetta, Leon Panetta CIA, Torture, Politics News
Frank Naif

Panetta's -- and Obama's -- instincts are correct when they promise to protect the CIA's rank and file from prosecution. But protecting the troops from prosecution is not the same as resisting accountability.

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Obama Administration Still Fighting Release of Torture Evidence

The Washington Independent | Posted 09.10.2009 | Politics

Read More: CIA Torture, Central Intelligence Agency, War on Terror, Guantanamo Detainees, Black Sites, Great Britain, Binyam Mohamed, Gitmo, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Cia, San Francisco Chronicle, Hillary Clinton, Bob Egelko, Extraordinary Rendition, Torture, Jeppesen Dataplan, Politics News

This case has dropped a off the radar screen lately, but Bob Egelko at the San Francisco Chronicle today reminds us that the Obama administration is s...

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Guantanamo Justice Center: Ex-Detainees Launch Gitmo Inmates' Rights Group

AP | Posted 08.29.2009 | Politics

Read More: Guantnamo, Gitmo, Guantanamo Bay, Guantanamo Detainees, Gitmo Detainees, Gitmo Inmates, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iraq War, Afghanistan War, U.S. Military, Sami Al-Haj, Gitmo Rights Group, Guantanamo Detainees Rights, Torture, Enhanced Interrogation, Bush Administration, Cia, Central Intelligence Agency, George W. Bush, Military Prison, Politics News

GENEVA — Former Guantanamo Bay detainees have launched an organization to help released inmates return to normal life and to lobby for the relea...

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Congressional Investigations of CIA Move Ahead, Republicans Flipflop to Score Political Points

Frank Naif | Posted 08.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Pete Hoekstra, House Intelligence Committee, Central Intelligence Agency, Cia, Rush Holt, Silvestre Reyes, Nancy Pelosi, Bob Graham, Mary Mccarthy, Politics News
Frank Naif

Is the House Intelligence Committee's investigation the beginning of a new round of far-reaching Congressional inquiries into intelligence activities?

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Congress Demands Full Account of Intelligence Outsourcing Mess - and It's a Mess

Frank Naif | Posted 08.14.2009 | Politics

Read More: Mike McConnell, Corruption, Jeppesen Dataplan, Foia, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA Torture, Iraq Contractors, Mitchell Jessen & Associates, Outsourcing, Dusty Foggo, House Intelligence Committee, Dni, Booz Allen Hamilton, Classified Contracts, Jane Mayer, Cia, Private Security Contractors, Defense Contractors, Waste, Mohamed Et Al v Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., Leon Panetta, FOIA Requests, Leon Panetta CIA, Politics News
Frank Naif

The outsourcing of intelligence has impacted nearly every aspect of intelligence operations, and Congress wants to know how and why.

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Obama's "Drip, Drip, Drip..." Intelligence Problem

Chris Weigant | Posted 08.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: George Bush, White House, President Obama, Central Intelligence Agency, Pat Leahy, Cia, Leon Panetta, Truth Commission, Cheney, Surveillance, Obama, Eric Holder, President, Bush, Dick Cheney, Intelligence, Drip Drip Drip, Assassination, Detainee Abuse, Briefed, Panetta, Brief, Attorney General, Warrantless Wiretapping, Congress, Justice Department, Intelligence Committee, Barack Obama, Investigation, Detainee, Saturday Night Massacre, Briefing, Prisoner, Vice-President, Chris Weigant, Wiretapping, I Was Only Following Orders, Leahy, Waterboarding, Hit Squad, Water Torture, Nixon, Torture, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Obama faces a steady drip, drip, drip of stories leaking and becoming public. Wiretapping stories, torture stories, and secret CIA covert stories were all in the news in the past week alone.

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Obama's Weak Congress

Andrew Sargus Klein | Posted 08.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: House of Representatives, White House, Politics, Intelligence, Bush Administration, Senate, Congress, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security, President Obama, Bush Legacy, Leon Panetta, Legislation, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, The New Republic, Walter Lippmann, Politics News
Andrew Sargus Klein

I fear a Congress that, while not so much parasitic, is so fearful of being attached to any of Obama's failures that it misses every opportunity to be a part of his successes.

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Drones, Torture, Detention Show What US Intelligence Isn't Doing

Frank Naif | Posted 08.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: House Intelligence Committee, US Drone Missiles, Stephen Kappes, Central Intelligence Agency, Cia, Pakistan Drone Attacks, Gang of Eight, Congressional Oversight, Oversight, CIA Torture, Obama National Security, Drones, Obama Detention Policy, Torture, Politics News
Frank Naif

Repeating past glories and thinking inside the bureaucratic box explain how CIA chiefs chose to keep the focus on drones and detentions.

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Department of Defense Spies Bend Rules to Keep Congress in the Dark

Frank Naif | Posted 08.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: House Intelligence Committee, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Cia, Special Ops, Navy SEAL, CIA Torture, Joint Special Operations Command, Covert Actions, Politics News
Frank Naif

If CIA captures and tortures a terrorist, it must be reported immediately to Congress. But if Navy SEALs capture and torture a terrorist, Congress may not learn about it for a year -- if at all.

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GOP Rep. Says He Would Support An Investigation Of Secret CIA Program

The Plumline | Posted 08.10.2009 | Politics

Read More: House Dems, Gop, Intelligence, Congress, Central Intelligence Agency, Cia, Silvestre Reyes, Jan Schakowsky, House of Representatives, Mac Thornberry, Cia Secret Program, Leon Panetta, Politics News

I'm a bit surprised this isn't getting more attention: Last night, A Republican member of Congress -- Rep Mac Thornberry -- said he would support an i...

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CIA "Affirmatively Lied" To Us: House Intel Panel Chair Reyes

CQ Politics | Posted 08.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Reyes, Silvestre Reyes, House Intelliegence Panel, Cia Intelligence Lie, Cia Lies, Cia Lied, Reyes Cia Lies, Central Intelligence Agency, Reyes Cia Lied, Politics News

House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes has suggested Republicans would be well advised to avoid politicizing the intelligence authorizaton bill l...

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Cheney's "Privileged" Interview Already Leaked By Personal Lawyer

Emptywheel | Posted 08.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: Central Intelligence Agency, Scott Mcclellan, Libby Trial, Doj, President Obama, Terry O'Donnell, Dan Bartlett, Obama, David Addington, Nie, Department of Justice, Newsweek, Patrick Fitzgerald, Michael Isikoff, White House, Judith Miller, Cia, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Politics News

You know how Obama's DOJ claims that we can't see Cheney's interview with Patrick Fitzgerald because it's privileged? Well, Dick Cheney's lawyer alrea...

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Advocacy Groups Say Torture Memo Authors Should Be Disbarred

AP | PAMELA HESS | Posted 07.30.2009 | Politics

Read More: Waterboarding, Torture, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA Interrogations, Cia, Inspector General, Politics News

WASHINGTON — A coalition of advocacy groups is asking the District of Columbia and New York bar associations to disbar three government attorney...

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Obama Torture Task Force Considers Reducing CIA Role In Interrogations

The Washington Independant | Posted 07.25.2009 | Politics

Read More: CIA Interrogations, Central Intelligence Agency, Terrorism, Guantanamo Detainees, George W. Bush, President Obama, Guantanamo, Fbi, Obama, Gitmo, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cia, Barack Obama, Enhanced Interrogations, Leon Panetta, Torture, Politics News

The task force charged with fleshing out President Obama's ban on torture in interrogations is likely to recommend the creation of small, mixed-agency...

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