February 19, 2008

Military Poll: Armed Forces -- And U.S. -- Highly Vulnerable

Is the military broken?

That is a question the Pentagon and Washington have been asking since late 2003, when then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld inadvertently signaled that the country was in for a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers themselves have been generally more positive about their mission than American civilians are. A new survey of military officers shows that while most maintain that the military is not broken, it cannot persevere under present conditions for long.

More than 3,400 active and retired officers -- 10 percent of whom served in Iraq, Afghanistan or both -- were surveyed by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for a New American Security [PDF], a centrist think tank.

Just 42 percent of respondents described the military as broken, compared with 56 percent who disagreed. But 60 percent said the military was weaker. Just 25 percent said the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan had helped the military grow stronger.

The results are largely in line with other surveys of military officers, such as those conducted by the Military Times publishing group. But as warnings from the military about its own health have intensified over the years, the strain placed on active-duty troops has only grown. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the new 15/12 deployment schedule last April, and there are no indications that those rotations will be eased this year, even as troop levels are brought back down to pre-surge levels. If anything, the Pentagon appears to be hinting that they will not.

When asked whether the war in Iraq had stretched the military "dangerously thin," a whopping 88 percent of respondents said yes. More gravely, the officers said, the military is currently ill-prepared to respond to other major conflicts. More than 80 percent said it was unreasonable to expect the military to engage in another war today. And on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 meaning completely ready, the officers gave America's readiness to go to war with Iran a 4.5.

That may be because many see the current mission in Iraq as untenable: Nearly three-quarters said the goals set for the military by civilian leadership after the fall of Saddam Hussein were unreasonable.

Continue reading "Military Poll: Armed Forces -- And U.S. -- Highly Vulnerable"

Posted at 3:35 PM
Posted to: Afghanistan, Asia, Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, David Petraeus, Donald Rumsfeld, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Robert Gates
Share via

February 13, 2008

Senate To Battle Over Authorization Bill's Torture Provision

Having cleared a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act revision bill yesterday after weeks of skirmishing, the Senate is now expected to battle over legislation that would prohibit the CIA from using coercive interrogation techniques.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will try today to advance the long-stalled conference agreement on a measure that would authorize intelligence programs and spending for the current fiscal year. Reid is seeking a vote to invoke cloture on the bill, which would cut off debate and set it up for final passage.

But Republicans and the White House oppose a provision in the authorization bill that would prohibit the CIA and all other U.S. intelligence agencies from using interrogation techniques not authorized by the U.S. Army Field Manual.

Continue reading "Senate To Battle Over Authorization Bill's Torture Provision"

Posted at 9:16 AM
Posted to: CIA, Congress, Senate, Terrorism
Share via

February 07, 2008

Mukasey: CIA Waterboarding Will Not Be Investigated

Attorney General Michael Mukasey today said the Justice Department will not open a criminal investigation into waterboarding by CIA employees because his department previously permitted use of the technique in interrogations of suspected terrorists. Waterboarding "cannot possibly be the subject of a Justice Department investigation, because that would mean that the same department that authorized the program would now consider prosecuting someone who followed that advice," Mukasey told the House Judiciary Committee at a department oversight hearing.

Mukasey's remarks followed an admission Tuesday by CIA Director Michael Hayden that the agency used waterboarding -- an interrogation technique that causes suspects to believe they are drowning -- on three al-Qaida detainees after Sept. 11, 2001. The department's Office of Legal Counsel has issued opinions that waterboarding is legal in some circumstances, though Mukasey and other Bush administration officials have said U.S. employees do not now use it.

Continue reading "Mukasey: CIA Waterboarding Will Not Be Investigated"

Posted at 4:39 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, House, Michael Mukasey, Terrorism
Share via

February 05, 2008

Intel Chiefs Say Waterboarding Used In Interrogations

The intelligence community's annual public report on the threats facing the nation was overtaken during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing today by the politically charged issues of waterboarding and other "coercive" interrogation techniques, extension of the government's eavesdropping authority and the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear weapons program.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and CIA Director Michael Hayden said waterboarding was a legal technique that should be available under certain circumstances if authorized by the nation's legal and political leaders. McConnell said, to his knowledge, only the CIA has used it. Hayden told the committee that the CIA has used the painful technique, which many consider a form of torture, only three times in its history. Those times, three years ago, were against "high value" al-Qaida terror suspects who were thought to have information on an imminent threat to the nation.

The intense discussion was triggered by a question from Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., about proposed legislation that would require all U.S. intelligence agencies to use only the interrogation procedures listed in the recently revised Army field manual.

Continue reading "Intel Chiefs Say Waterboarding Used In Interrogations"

Posted at 3:45 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, Detainees, Michael Hayden, Mike McConnell, Senate
Share via

January 30, 2008

Mukasey Frustrates Again On Waterboarding

Attorney General Michael Mukasey fended off questions today on waterboarding, CIA destruction of interrogation tapes, the U.S. attorney firings and other high-profile issues in his first appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee since his contentious confirmation hearings three months ago.

Mukasey said the CIA does not conduct waterboarding now and that the committee would be privately informed should that change. Mukasey repeatedly declined to say if waterboarding -- an interrogation technique that causes suspects to believe they are drowning -- constitutes torture, or to confirm if it was used by the CIA.

"Given waterboarding is not part of the [interrogation] program and may never be added to the program, I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on its legality," he testified. Mukasey did suggest a standard where the brutality of an interrogator's action would be weighed against the value of information elicited to decide if the act constitutes torture. That position drew rebukes from several committee Democrats.

Continue reading "Mukasey Frustrates Again On Waterboarding"

Posted at 5:48 PM
Posted to: Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, CIA, Constitution, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Terrorism
Share via

January 24, 2008

Bush Stands Firm On DOJ Nominee

Watching President Bush's congenial interaction with Democratic congressional leaders as they hammer out the details of an economic stimulus package, one may be tempted to see a promising sign of bipartisan cooperation during Bush's final year in office. But don't let the photo opportunities fool you. On other issues, particularly those pertaining to law and national security, the White House and Capitol Hill remain worlds apart.

In the latest example of the continuing partisan rifts over CIA interrogation techniques, Bush renominated lawyer Steven Bradbury to a senior post at the Department of Justice yesterday, despite years of Democratic resistance to his nomination.

Bradbury, who has been the acting head of DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel for more than two years without being confirmed by the Senate, has run into opposition from Democrats because he signed several classified memos in 2005 authorizing harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects.

Continue reading "Bush Stands Firm On DOJ Nominee"

Posted at 8:15 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, Michael Mukasey, President Bush, Senate
Share via

January 10, 2008

Judge Rejects Review Of CIA Videos; Official Demands Immunity

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy yesterday refused to delve into the destruction of CIA interrogation videos, saying there was no evidence the Bush administration violated a court order to preserve the tapes. Kennedy said that he would not open a separate inquiry into the matter and that the Justice Department deserved time to conduct its own investigation.

Also yesterday, sources told AP that lawyers for former CIA official Jose Rodriguez informed Congress he would not testify about the tapes before the House without a guarantee of immunity from prosecution. Rodriguez, the former head of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, ordered the destruction of the tapes in question in 2005. He is scheduled to testify before a House committee on Jan. 16.

Despite Kennedy's ruling, lawmakers have refused to leave the case to the Justice Department and are insisting on holding their own hearings. CongressDaily reports that Kennedy's decision was a victory for the administration, which had urged the courts not to wade into a politically charged issue already under investigation by the DOJ, not to mention the CIA and Congress.

Continue reading "Judge Rejects Review Of CIA Videos; Official Demands Immunity"

Posted at 9:15 AM
Posted to: Bush Administration, CIA
Share via

January 02, 2008

DOJ To Investigate Destruction Of CIA Tapes

UPDATED.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced today that the Justice Department would open a criminal probe into why the CIA destroyed videotapes of terrorism interrogations, but a top administration critic renewed calls for an outside investigation.

"It is disappointing that the attorney general has stepped outside the Justice Department's own regulations and declined to appoint a more independent special counsel in this matter," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers.

The DOJ probe follows a preliminary investigation conducted internally at the CIA after Director Michael Hayden disclosed that videos of two al-Qaida suspects being harshly interrogated were destroyed. The White House has bristled at reports that it had a role in the tapes' destruction, but officials have generally refused to clarify what they knew and when they knew it.

In a statement announcing the investigation, Mukasey said, "Following a preliminary inquiry into the destruction by CIA personnel of videotapes of detainee interrogations, the Department’s National Security Division has recommended, and I have concluded, that there is a basis for initiating a criminal investigation of this matter, and I have taken steps to begin that investigation."

The investigation would normally fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of Virginia, but following a recusal request, a U.S. attorney based in Connecticut will handle the matter, Mukasey said. U.S. attorneys are political appointees, but questions about just how political those appointments were culminated in the resignation of Mukasey's predecessor, former AG Alberto Gonzales, last year.

Mukasey described John Durham, the first assistant U.S. attorney in the Connecticut office, as "a widely respected and experienced career prosecutor who has supervised a wide range of complex investigations in the past."

Continue reading "DOJ To Investigate Destruction Of CIA Tapes"

Posted at 5:27 PM
Posted to: Al-Qaida, Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, Michael Hayden, Michael Mukasey, Military, President Bush, Terrorism
Share via

December 20, 2007

President Bush's Passive-Aggressive Holiday Greeting

Speaking at his final White House press conference of the year, President Bush congratulated Congress on its 11th-hour legislative achievements while making sure to backhand lawmakers for taking so long to get there.

"I thank the members of both parties for their hard work," Bush said, cheering the passage this week of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch, a lending crisis fix, an energy efficiency package and new defense spending. "I am pleased we are able to end this year on a high note."

Returning later to the AMT bill, the president added, "Unfortunately, Congress passed this legislation after a lengthy delay. It is going to add to the time it takes to process tens of billions in refunds. We will work hard to minimize the impact of congressional delay."

And after thanking Congress for sending him new spending for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan before the New Year, Bush noted that it was "approved at the last minute, nearly three months after the end of the fiscal year." He continued, "When Congress wastes so much time and leaves its work until the final days before Christmas, it is not a responsible way to run the government."

The president later denied that his relationship with the Democratic-led Congress was truly "antagonistic," but his annual pre-holiday address to the press corps encapsulated the testy and wearying push-pull the two branches have been engaged in all year.

Continue reading "President Bush's Passive-Aggressive Holiday Greeting"

Posted at 12:18 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, CIA, Campaigns, Congress, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Iraq, Lebanon, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Russia, Syria, Vladimir Putin, WH 2008
Share via

December 19, 2007

WH Lawyers May Have Encouraged Destruction Of CIA Tapes

One day after a federal judge ignored the Justice Department's objections and ordered a hearing into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes, the New York Times is reporting that at least four high-ranking White House lawyers may have had a role in the decision to destroy the video evidence.

Citing "current and former administration and intelligence officials," the Times names four White House officials -- former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff David Addington, former senior National Security Council lawyer John Bellinger and former White House counsel Harriet Miers -- who "took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives" from al-Qaida.

The Times' sources reportedly gave "conflicting accounts as to whether anyone at the White House expressed support for the idea that the tapes should be destroyed."

Continue reading "WH Lawyers May Have Encouraged Destruction Of CIA Tapes"

Posted at 7:46 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, CIA, Harriet Miers, Michael Hayden, Michael Mukasey, Terrorism
Share via

December 12, 2007

Probes Into Destruction Of CIA Tapes Expand & Multiply

Congressional investigators are expanding their inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the CIA's videotaped interrogations, as members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence complained about not getting enough answers during a closed briefing yesterday with CIA Director Michael Hayden.

Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said after the briefing that he plans to call CIA Inspector General John Helgerson and John Rizzo, the agency's top lawyer, to testify by next week "at the latest" on the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the tapes in 2005.

Rockefeller said it is possible he will also call Jose Rodriguez Jr. to testify. Rodriguez has been identified as the official who, as head of the spy agency's national clandestine service, ordered the videotapes destroyed. "This is a beginning," Rockefeller said.

The House intelligence committee is scheduled to hear from Hayden during a closed session today.

Continue reading "Probes Into Destruction Of CIA Tapes Expand & Multiply"

Posted at 8:55 AM
Posted to: CIA, Congress, House, Senate
Share via

December 06, 2007

Report: CIA Destroyed Tapes Of Terror Interrogations

UPDATED.

The CIA in 2005 destroyed video evidence of at least two interrogation sessions involving al-Qaida operatives, "current and government officials" tell the New York Times in a report posted online today. The agency's destruction of the tapes is possibly illegal, as lawmakers and the executive branch are engaged in a battle over information about the methods and techniques used in the interrogation of terrorism suspects.

In a memo obtained by AP, Director Michael Hayden said the tapes were destroyed to protect the identities of interrogators and their families. The House and Senate were briefed on the process, Hayden said, and the CIA's internal watchdog signed off, in "the absence of any legal or internal reason to keep them."

But: "It's a big deal, it's a very big deal," says American University law professor Daniel Marcus in the Times.

Posted at 6:15 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, CIA
Share via

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."

Continue reading "Inspecting The Inspector"

Posted at 3:59 PM
Posted to: CIA
Share via

October 09, 2007

SCOTUS Won't Hear Rendition Case

The Supreme Court today refused to take up the case of Khaled el-Masri, a German national who is trying to sue the U.S. government for allegedly kidnapping and torturing him in an Afghanistan prison for months beginning in late 2003. In what the New York Times describes as the "most extensively documented case of the C.I.A.'s controversial practice of 'extraordinary rendition,'" el-Masri claims he was eventually released with no explanation for his detainment, although he suspects it was a case of mistaken identity.

The justices rejected the case without giving a reason, but the move is being interpreted as a de facto agreement with the Bush administration's contention that hearing the case could compromise national security.

Continue reading "SCOTUS Won't Hear Rendition Case"

Posted at 2:49 PM
Posted to: CIA, Supreme Court
Share via

October 04, 2007

CIA Interrogations To Take Center Stage In Mukasey Hearings

UPDATED.

Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are incensed at the revelations in this morning's New York Times report outlining secret legal opinions the Bush administration has used to justify harsh interrogations techniques for terrorism suspects.

"It would be bad enough if this administration had disgraced itself and this country by engaging in cruel and degrading treatment of detainees. It is worse still that it enlisted the Justice Department in the effort to justify and cover up its activities," said Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, speaking on the floor of the Senate today.

Kennedy is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which yesterday announced that confirmation hearings for attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey would begin as early as two weeks from now. Chairman Patrick Leahy appeared to be signaling that he would not hold up Mukasey's hearings despite an ongoing confrontation with the White House over the NSA surveillance program and U.S. attorney firings scandal. While the revelations about DOJ possibly signing off on torture will probably not affect the hearing timeline, they will almost certainly have a huge impact on Mukasey's confirmation.

A congressional source with close knowledge of the committee said that "a lot of people are really, really angry" about the secret opinions. According to the Times report, the White House took backdoor measures to keep CIA interrogation techniques like "head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures" in play by way of secret DOJ memos asserting their legality -- even as it publicly bowed to demands by Congress and the Supreme Court to outlaw them.

Continue reading "CIA Interrogations To Take Center Stage In Mukasey Hearings"

Posted at 6:15 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, CIA, Congress, Constitution, Detainees, House, Michael Mukasey, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Senate
Share via

August 22, 2007

Inspector General Cites Pre-9/11 CIA Failures

A new report shows that six years after the Sept. 11 attacks, there's still plenty of shame and blame to go around among those tasked with protecting Americans from terrorism.

The newly declassified findings of CIA Inspector General John Helgerson reveal "some 50 to 60 individuals" in the agency may have been aware that two of the hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, had been issued visas to enter the United States. The 9/11 commission pinpointed the CIA's decision not to add the known al-Qaida affiliates to its watch lists or notify the FBI when they were issued visas as one of the more spectacular intelligence failures leading up to the attacks.

Continue reading "Inspector General Cites Pre-9/11 CIA Failures"

Posted at 12:00 PM
Posted to: Al-Qaida, Bush Administration, CIA, George Tenet, Terrorism
Share via

August 09, 2007

Bush Stays Course On Iraq, Taxes & Torture

President Bush today addressed a varied list of topics -- ranging from the nation's bridges to corporate tax cuts to Iran -- ahead of a retreat to his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The deeply unpopular leader kicked off the news conference, broadcast by all the networks along with cable, with one of the few bright spots of his administration: education. His initiatives in this arena have managed to receive bipartisan support, including the America Competes Act, which he will sign today. The bill boosts and expands science, technology, engineering and math education, as well as research and development.

"The American economy is the envy of the world and we need to keep it that way," Bush said in his opening remarks. "The bill I will sign today will help ensure we do remain the most competitive and innovative nation in the world."

As Bush was speaking, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was slip-siding after three days of record gains. French bank BNP Paribas announced this morning that it froze three funds because of concerns about the U.S. subprime lending market, reviving American investors' panic about volatility there.

Protesting that he was not an economist, Bush refused to detail what he thought should be done about the subprime lending problem, but did seem to draw the line at a federal bailout. He also said that because many of the defaulting homeowners "didn't understand what they were signing up for," it would be a "proper role for government to enhance education initiatives," and again pointed to the America Competes Act.

Continue reading "Bush Stays Course On Iraq, Taxes & Torture"

Posted at 1:48 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, CIA, Campaigns, Congress, Detainees, Europe, France, Iran, Iraq, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East, Military, President Bush, Taxes, Terrorism, WH 2008
Share via

August 07, 2007

New Hiring Rules To Boost FBI Cheetos Consumption?

The FBI no longer deems pot a dealbreaker. Newly relaxed hiring practices mean that marijuana use no longer disqualifies you from employment with the bureau -- provided you haven't touched the stuff in three years.

Of course, the new rules don't mean that the guys from "Clerks" will be tasked with fighting the domestic war on terror. Jeffrey Berkin, an FBI deputy assistant director, cautioned the Washington Post, "Our standards are still very high. The level of drug history would still have to be something that we would characterize as experimental."

Continue reading "New Hiring Rules To Boost FBI Cheetos Consumption?"

Posted at 12:30 PM
Posted to: CIA, Crime, Health
Share via