From the written archive

Why Are They Not In Jail?

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Politics

According to this story, the CIA has been illegally wiretapping the Senate.

The Central Intelligence Agency improperly and covertly hacked into computers used by Senate staffers to investigate the spy agency’s Bush-era interrogation practices, according to an internal investigation.

CIA Director John Brennan has determined that employees “acted in a manner inconsistent with the common understanding” brokered between the CIA and its Senate overseers, according to agency spokesman Dean Boyd.

The stunning admission follows a scathing, 40-minute speech Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein gave from the Senate floor back in March, in which she accused the CIA of covertly removing key documents from her panel’s computers during its review of the government’s torture, detention and rendition policies during the Bush presidency. The powerful California Democrat lacerated the CIA and charged them with possibly violating the Constitution.

Why was this announcement not accompanied by reports of CIA employees being led out in chains to be processed for trial? One of the greatest dangers to a self-governing republic is a rogue spy agency using confidential material against the people’s representatives. That’s why every sane country has laws prohibiting it. We also used to hang people for this sort of stuff. The unwillingness of the Congress to tackle this problem will come back to haunt them in the future.

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Comments originally posted to thezman.com.

2 Comments

cdjaco #1880 August 1, 2014 3:29 pm 0
Why are they not in jail? Simple: there are two Americas…. one with laws for you and me, and one with laws for those in power. This has always been the case to some degree; the difference now is that those in power don’t even care to disguise that fact. In a more thoughtful, civilized country even if no laws were broken (Gobsmacker’s point), there certainly would be resignations and terminations at the CIA simply due to the impropriety of it all. We’re not that America any more.
gobsmacker #1860 July 31, 2014 1:44 pm 0
What laws were broken? Offhand, none that I can see. The agency and the Senate committee had come to an arrangement by which committee staffers could view secret documents using the computers that were provided by, set up by, and run by the CIA at CIA HQ. So the CIA violated this gentlemen’s agreement. Did the agreement include a penalty clause? Not likely. Not to defend the CIA, but Feinstein is just bloviating.

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