Intelligence

The Wall Street Journal reports on a briefing yesterday arranged by the Justice Department regarding the botched Times Square bombing: 

One person who was in the room for Tuesday’s intelligence briefing said Bond appeared to fall asleep for 10 to 15 minutes, but that he and other senators had spirited exchanges with the briefers. Among those there to answer questions were top officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Justice Department and the National Counterterrorism Center.

Kit Bond has removed himself from the Senate Intelligence Committee's review of Bush-era terrorist interrogation techniques, perhaps because he didn't like what he was finding. Bond had been working with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) since March on a investigation of interrogation policies, but Bond now says he's seen enough.

Bond says his move comes in response to Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to appoint a prosecutor to investigate alleged CIA interrogation abuses, including episodes that resulted in prisoner deaths.

Feinstein says the review will not be deterred by Bond's stunt.

More details are emerging about the secret CIA program reportedly ordered by Dick Cheney. From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

According to The Guardian, former Vice President Dick Cheney "ordered a highly classified CIA operation hidden from Congress because it pushed the limits of legality by planning to assassinate of al-Qaida operatives in friendly countries without the knowledge of their governments."

"The CIA apparently did not put the plan in to operation but the US military did, carrying out several assassinations including one in Kenya that proved to be a severe embarrassment and helped lead to the quashing of the programme."

As noted earlier today, Roy Blunt and Kit Bond have already rejected calls for inquiries and investigations into the program. Blunt, Roll Call reported, said the CIA didn’t do anything wrong and that an investigation is not warranted.

Late last week, members of the US House Intelligence Committee were "warring" over what to do with new information from CIA Director Leon Panetta that the CIA has been concealing a secret information-collecting program from Congress for years. Here's what Panetta is reported to have said:

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday...

Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day.

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