October 12, 2007
Inspecting The Inspector
The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both led with the "highly unusual" news this morning that the head of the nation's top spy agency had launched an internal investigation into his own internal investigator.
CIA Inspector General John Helgerson isn't exactly the most popular man at the agency these days. His recent inquiries into the CIA's handling of pre-9/11 intelligence and the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects, which have produced some damning results, have ruffled more than a few feathers within the spy community. CIA Director Michael Hayden, in particular, has not tried to hide his frustration with some of Helgerson's work.
According to the New York Times, "the review is particularly focused on complaints that Mr. Helgerson’s office has not acted as a fair and impartial judge of agency operations but instead has begun a crusade against those who have participated in controversial detention programs."
The Los Angeles Times reports that the probe has been ongoing for several months and has expanded since its original launch. The primary focus is to determine whether Helgerson's "office was fair and impartial in its scrutiny of the agency's terrorist detention and interrogation programs," but "officials said the probe also spanned other subjects."
Former CIA Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz called the probe a "terrible idea" and suggested it could undermine the independence of the IG. In a statement today, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes also said the news was "troubling."
"By law, the CIA Inspector General is required to 'to plan, conduct, supervise, and coordinate independently… relating to the programs and operations of the Agency to ensure they are conducted efficiently and in accordance with applicable law and regulations...' It is this independence that Congress established, and will very aggressively preserve," Reyes vowed. The Project on Government Oversight is also sounding alarm bells.
But a "former high-ranking CIA official" speaking anonymously to the L.A. Times defended the probe, saying, "There is across-the-board distrust with the IG function and disrespect for Helgerson, who many believe has a personal agenda on issues."
CIA spokesman George Little, in an interview with Ken Silverstein of Harper's, downplayed the investigation, calling it "a management review, the kind of thing you’d expect a healthy organization to do."
The L.A. Times has the "back story" on the IG's office. And, turning Hayden's own words against him, TPM Muckraker's Spencer Ackerman wonders if the agency's inquiry will have a "a chilling effect on internal investigations of potential wrongdoing."
