Blunt and Bond: No need to investigate bombshell allegations that CIA has been lying to Congress
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.
Despite the huge questions raised by Panetta's briefings, Sen. Kit Bond and Rep. Roy Blunt have already decided that Congress doesn't need to worry about the program or CIA's alleged dishonesty with the appropriate Intelligence Committees.
In fact, Roll Call reports that Roy Blunt has already decided that the CIA hasn't done anything wrong, and that the CIA never implemented the program Panetta says was implemented.
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an Intelligence member, said the CIA didn’t do anything wrong and that an investigation is not warranted.
“They’re accused of not telling Congress that they’re thinking of doing something they never did,” Blunt said. “I hope they’re thinking about lots of things that never get to the implementation stage.”
Kit Bond takes the denials one step further -- he's convinced the bipartisan concerns about the CIA's disclosure and honesty are just part of a Democratic cover-up of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's assertions earlier this year that the CIA wasn't being straight with Congress.
Republican leaders, who have repeatedly expressed outrage that Pelosi accused the CIA of lying, issued fresh challenges Thursday that she provide proof of the deception.
Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement issued Thursday that the revelations from her Democratic colleagues in the House “appears to be an attempt to cover up for Speaker Pelosi's faulty memory and baseless accusations about the hardworking men and women of the CIA.”
This doesn't make any sense, but there's no reason to think a desire to make sense or actually consider the potential problems will slow down defense of the Bush/Cheney legacy.
According to the NY Times, there are broad concerns about the CIA's decision to hide information from Congress -- placing Bond and Blunt in a clear minority among their peers.
Members of Congress have differed on the significance of the program, whose details remained secret and which even some Democrats have said was properly classified. Most of those interviewed, however, have said that it was an important activity that should have been disclosed to the intelligence committees.
I'm not sure why Bond and Blunt are afraid to find out the truth, but Congress needs to figure out what's been going on.
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