As you’ll no doubt understand over the next week or so, bmaz and I have been comparing the case of David Passaro, the only CIA-related person to be prosecuted for detainee abuse, with what happened in Gul Rahman’s death at the Salt Pit. Passaro, a CIA contractor obviously trained in SERE-based interrogation techniques, was convicted [...]

Yesterday, we talked about how Rahm Emanuel opposed indefinite detention before he started working for it with Lindsey Graham. Today, Steven Aftergood shows that Obama’s two intelligence heads, Leon Panetta and Dennis Blair, supported GAO oversight of intelligence activities before–presumably–they supported yesterday’s veto threat of GAO oversight. As a Congressman in 1987, Leon Panetta actually [...]

How does the dual reporting over covert ops in Pakistan impact the turf war between Leon Panetta and Dennis Blair?

This time it’s Panetta v. Holder.

Yet more rumors that Panetta is on his way out.

The CIA orders up an attempt to push back against Congressional oversight. Again. But it is transparently bad.

Congress has managed to review all aspects of torture used in the military, with no untoward outcome. Yet CIA insists if the same happens for the torture used in the CIA, the sky will fall.

Remember when the Obama Administration appealed to a “fundamental compact” between Congress and the Executive Branch when arguing the intelligence community didn’t need more oversight? (“Fundamental compact, my ass,” I thought was the best response.) Well, Leon Panetta’s out with a similar appeal to inflated, but bogus, language in an attempt to avoid increased Congressional oversight.

Royce Lamberth really smacked down Leon Panetta’s declaration in the Horn v. Huddle case. That probably going to make it a lot easier for other plaintiffs to question his good faith going forward.

The CIA argues that they’re not claiming the torture documents are classified because they’re trying to hide a crime, but argue at the same time that the descriptions of the techniques as practiced have to remain classified because they’re not the same as the abstract descriptions.