The CIA ‘misled Congress five times since 2001’

By Raw Story
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 -- 4:33 pm
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ciacentralintelligenceagencyspyspies The CIA ‘misled Congress five times since 2001’Update at bottom: Senior intel official concedes Congress was misled

From The Hill:

The CIA misled Congress at least five times since 2001, according to Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee.

The Democrats said CIA officials had either lied or withheld information from Congress. They also said CIA officials did not fully inform Congress about the use of enhanced interrogation techniques during a September 2002 briefing, which would validate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) claim that she was lied to about the program.

The ongoing probe found the practice of incomplete briefings or outright lying was part of a "large disease" of misinforming even the chairmen of the select intelligence committees, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said at a Tuesday press briefing that highlighted the early findings.

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Schakowsky and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) are leading two subcommittees investigating the legitimacy of intelligence briefings to Congress.

Read the rest at The Hill.

A Fox News blog notes that a "senior intelligence official conceded Tuesday that the intelligence community has failed to fully inform Congress about some of its spying activities."

Robert Litt, chief counsel for the Director of National Intelligence, "testified before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday that the spies didn't tell Congress about a small number of operations."

“We have an obligation to get you the information that you need to provide oversight. And the scope of what we provide you needs to be adequate to permit you to provide oversight of the intelligence community,” Litt said.

Litt added, "I think that when some of the agencies went back and looked at their records, they found a couple of matters where they had determined not to brief. And they relooked at it and decided probably ought to be briefed. But those were a few isolated instances.”

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Story comments are below...
  • dennycrane
    ..
    .
    ........The CIA had either lied or withheld information from Congress....Gee, how about both at the same time and approximately every five minutes of the day.
  • kayttt2000
    Your correct,,
    You forgot the part about how this behavior has been going on for DECADES...
    Along with destroying evidence..!
  • PrissyPatriot
    Congress just stopped counting after 5, that's as high as they can go...
  • lousgirl84
    The thugs owe Nancy Pelosi an apology bigtime
  • conservatve
    No doubt we should be astonished at this news.
    Unfortunately, we are not. This has gone on all my life. The really sore issue in this is whose interests do they serve? When the CIA keeps something from congress, why did they refuse to do the job they were hired to do? Who has convinced them to sell out their country?
    I am sure they do not see it that way. I remember when Oliver North was before congress for subverting democracy for Ronald Reagan in the Iran-Contra affair, he firmly asserted that he was defending democracy, protecting democracy from congress, who had ordered that he not do what he was doing. I think he actually believed that he and his small cadre knew better how to defend democracy than the interfering congress. I think we have many like him, fervently believing for some reason that unlawful activities on their part are the right thing for the nation.
    While they subvert the process.
    The salient issue here is how can we stop this secrecy? Our enemies already know they are being ttortured. We are the last to know.
    Ultimately, if we cannot stop this sort of activity, one day the president will be rendered, and
    general McCrystal will stand before the Fox News cameras and announce that we can remain calm, for he is in charge.
  • philedrifter
    Um...they do that thousands of times a year.
  • Since the CIA colluded in the assassination JFK they have had almost total contempt for any kind of political oversight. Almost as much as the Pentagon has.
  • bushfatigue
    Shocked, just shocked!

    Now, when does the reckoning begin? Are we still a nation of laws? Unfortunately, I think not.
  • nader paul kucinich gravel
    MI6 CIA Mossad

    bbc beck blitzer bolton breitbart coulter
    cspan drudge gutfeld hannity huckabee imus
    ingraham krauthammer kristol limbaugh malkin
    north oreilly rivera rove scarborough stossel susteren

    Gotta Serve Somebody by Bob Dylan
  • rxgary
    why not cut funding to al -CIA-duh
    phoenetics never lie
    congress has the power to fix things
    stop funding wars
    abolish the federal reserve
    fund green projects like
    electric cars
    solar panels
    wind turbines
    geothermal energy
    single payer
    and heres why
    if everyone has medicare
    then employers no longer have to pay 8
    to 12000 dollars for insurance
    per employee, then they could pay
    higher wages
    then tax dollars are generated from increased payrolls
  • Elim
    Only 5 times? Give me a fucking break!
  • Savantster
    .
    with regard to torture, specifically.

    This is why "secret agencies" should not exist. When you must first and foremost have lies and secrets in place to establish your "way of life", you're doing something wrong. We lie to the public, we lie to other nations, we lie to the planet and we lie to ourselves.

    Of course, the alternative is that we are all honest, and those truths will lead us to a single planetary body that makes sure all humans are cared for, we all have access to food and shelter first, then we divvy up what's left. That ultimately leads to no one having private jets, private yachts, 12 luxury cars, 6 vacation homes, etc. etc.

    The ruling elite abuse the planet and all their fellow men so they can have a cushy life here on earth, then use religion to tell everyone else that they will be rewarded after they die. That lie is the core lie, religion in general is the foundation for all other lies.

    In fact, if we all start being honest, we end up at www.thevenusproject.com .. kinda cool.
    .
  • RT @loveu: RT @rawstory The CIA ‘misled Congress five times since 2001′ http://bit.ly/oViFu
    From twitter via UberVU
  • "CIA officials had either lied or withheld information from Congress. They also said CIA officials did not fully inform Congress about the use of enhanced interrogation techniques"

    WHEN will Congress get control of this rogue agency.
    Are our congressmen so afraid of their own assassination that they refuse to do it?

    By pushing Congress to prosecute the crimes of the Bush Administration
    perhaps we can get to the bottom of the
    CIA's complicity in the WMD Lies and Torture.

    SIGN the PETITION
    calling for Prosecution

    http://ANGRYVOTERS.org


    .
  • kayttt2000
    Let us not forget who controls the CIA,,
    I think the answer is the same people who created the CIA..
    A private army that carries out there wishes,,,

    Would that be the Illuminati?
  • miggy
    So much for the rule of law.

    Maybe I'm confused, but just how does this uphold the Constitution?

    I guess this is what the Republicans mean when they talk about "activist" judges. This is disturbing, because to me it says that the law is no remedy; that the CIA is not, in fact, subject to the law. Of what possible value is a document like the Constitution, if a rogue org, like the CIA isn't subject to its provisions?

    These days, it becomes increasingly clear to me that Americans need to be protected from the CIA far more than we need to be protected by them. They are almost single-handedly ruining our reputation, and our way of life.

    Yeah, they caught one friggin Osama look-alike from Denver who was so obvious that Officer Barbrady could've figured it out. Didn't seem to catch on to India going nookular. Pakistan? Uh...oops. North Korea? 9/11? Guess they were busy that day.

    The CIA solution to their own incompetent lawlessness seems to be, as always, keep as many Americans as possible from finding out. After all, if we don't know how far afield the CIA has run-amok, and how thoroughly they have undermined every one of our civic values, there's little we can do about it, right? Just let 'em police themselves, they'll get it right. (After all, that kind of oversight worked so well for the bankers.) And if rules are too restrictive on them, they can just outsource it to "private contractors" in the new American mercenary war machine, or some of our buddies in the "Free World".
    George Orwell's probably spinning like a top in his grave about now.
    I expect they've been busily planning the next overthrow of Iran's government--for your "safety".
  • CosimodiRondo
    Good. Now maybe Schakowsky can start investigating the FBI and the claims made by Sibel Edmonds. Show us you aren't being blackmailed, Jan.
  • Turnip
    ". . . has failed to fully inform Congress about some of its spying activities."

    Spying activities. . ? Is that what they do? Really?
    I thought that they were more into installing governments friendly to the corporations owned by the families constitute this empire, and having US pay for it.
  • lousgirl84
    The thuglicans owe Nancy Pelosi an apology. But she won't get it from the scum bags
  • msbillard
    So can we now demand that the Republicans who publicly chastized and demanded an apology from Speaker Pelosi apologize? Bet this story won't make it on Faux News tonight!
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