Accused of Spying on Congress, CIA Director Tap Dances

by Major Garett

    CIA Director John Brennan denied credible allegations of spying on Congress—a federal crime—leveled by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein with a classic Washington evasion.
    “We wouldn’t do that,” Brennan said during an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations. “That’s just beyond the scope of reason in terms of what we would do.”
    As might be said in a deposition, the witness was unresponsive. Brennan wasn’t under oath, and this isn’t a full-scale legal inquiry, at least not yet. As any cop or lawyer knows, when someone says they wouldn’t do something, that doesn’t prove they didn’t. And saying something is unreasonable doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

    Brennan also added this: “When the facts come out on this, I think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong.”
    Note the modifier “tremendous.” What constitutes tremendous in terms of spying or monitoring or hacking? That’s an eye-of-the-beholder dodge of the central question at hand: Did the CIA intentionally invade the work computers of Senate Intelligence Committee staffers and remove documents relevant to the panel’s ongoing oversight investigation?
    Put another way: Did the Obama administration, through zealous and possibly criminal tactics, seek to interfere with the oversight work of a bipartisan oversight committee chaired by Feinstein, a loyal California Democrat? Is Feinstein alone? Hardly. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid backs her “unequivocally.” So do rank-and-file Democrats.
    We are talking crimes and prerogatives here, people. And it’s Democrats, not Republicans, who allege that laws may have been violated and prerogatives bulldozed.
    Back to Brennan’s “tremendous” tap dance. Tremendous speaks to frequency, gaudiness, and audacity. The issue is ever. To paraphrase Jacqueline Susann, once is enough. Breaking the law is serious business. So is debasing the separation of powers and infecting executive branch and congressional relations with suspicion, doubt, and animosity when it comes to national security, intelligence-gathering, and oversight.
    The specific allegation, lodged deliberately and cogently by Feinstein, is that the CIA tried to interfere with the Intelligence Committee’s investigation into enhanced interrogation tactics (primarily waterboarding, but also other rough methods) during the Bush administration. The committee launched the investigation in 2009 after the CIA admitted, under duress, that videotapes of the interrogation techniques in question had been destroyed. The destruction of these tapes happened over the objections of the Bush White House counsel and the director of national intelligence. (See full timeline here.)

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 Need some Lessons In Lying?  Read the first few paragraphs.  Also can't help but notice that when in comes to Feinstein and Reid, the NSA spying on you and me is ok, but the CIA spying on them is a no no.  The CIA, of course, is not supposed to spy domestically on anybody.