After weeks of delays, the U.S. Senate confirmed John Brennan as the next head of the Central Intelligence Agency on Thursday morning. Many lawmakers blocked Brennan’s nomination, as Republicans fought for access to classified documents related to the attack on U.S. diplomats in Libya last September, but Brennan was ultimately approved by a 63 - 34 vote. source
Why it didn’t go down: ”The White House stalled the proposal because of lingering questions about which rebels could be trusted with the arms, whether the transfers would make a difference in the campaign to remove Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and whether the weapons would add to the suffering,” according to the WSJ’s sources. The proposal’s existence was made public yesterday for the first time at John Brennan’s Senate confirmation hearing. source [paywall]
54countries aided CIA renditions of U.S. detainees, according to a report from the Open Society Justice Initiative.
136people have been subjected to the renditions program, sent to third party countries for interrogation and/or torture and detention which would not be legal in the United States. source
The Obama administration is nearing completion of a detailed counterterrorism manual that is designed to establish clear rules for targeted-killing operations but leaves open a major exemption for the CIA’s campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan, U.S. officials said.
The carve-out would allow the CIA to continue pounding al-Qaeda and Taliban targets for a year or more before the agency is forced to comply with more stringent rules spelled out in a classified document that officials have described as a counterterrorism “playbook.”
Maybe it’s just us, but creating a rulebook which fails to address the incredibly low accountability of a program that many believe should be held to the highest standards (if continued at all) seems kind of pointless. Thoughts?
[Zero Dark Thirty] creates the strong impression that the enhanced interrogation techniques that were part of our former detention and interrogation program were the key to finding bin Laden. That impression is false.CIA chief Michael Morell • From a statement released today, regarding Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow’s controversial new film, Zero Dark Thirty, about the lead-up to the raid that ultimately killed Osama bin Laden.The film contains depictions of torture being used in service of the bin Laden manhunt, and suggests those methods were effective — Senators John McCain, Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin also sent a letter to the head of Sony Pictures, condemning that notion. We admit to not having seen the film yet, so any editorializing on our part would be critically ill-informed, but some who have seen it had incredibly strong reactions — this morning, MSNBC host Chris Hayes lambasted it as “objectively pro-torture,” and further suggested it “colludes with evil.” source
Here’s the shirtless photo of Frederick Humphries, the FBI agent who set the wheels in motion on the Petraeus thing. (The Seattle Times deserves 1000% credit for the find.) Apparently, it was a joke that he sent to his buddies. Well, that’s a lot less exciting than we expected. $20 says he’s a never-nude.
Peep the final bullet point from this week’s @Newsweek. With timing like this its a shame its stopping publication. lol #Petraeus
What you don’t even realize is that this is only half of it. That piece on those 12 rules was WRITTEN BY PETRAEUS’S MISTRESS. For real. Look.
Dear Newsweek: When you realized the weirdness of the timing of the Petraeus story mentioned above in relation to the current scandal, what was the reaction in the newsroom? Did people just look bewildered by the fact that you inadvertently became a part of the story, however small?
sssquid says: How was it logical? That’s f#(&(@& stupid. The guy just had sex with someone else. No reason for him to lose his job. So stupid and immature.
» SFB says: You know, instead of reading way too deeply into my spare usage of a cliche, consider that he likely created a major security risk by communicating anonymously via Gmail, as the Washington Post notes:
If Petraeus allowed his Gmail security to be compromised even slightly, by widening access, sharing passwords or logging in from multiple addresses, it would have brought foreign spy agencies that much closer to a treasure trove of information. As the Wall Street Journal hints, investigators were concerned about Petraeus’s Gmail access precisely because of the history of foreign attempts to access just such accounts.
While the accounts may not have contained any personal information about him, Max Fisher notes in his report that “access to the account could have provided telling information on, for example, Petraeus’s travel schedule, his foreign contacts, even personal information about himself or other senior U.S. officials.” — Ernie @ SFB
It didn’t start with Petraeus, but in the course of the investigation they stumbled across him. We were stunned. …People think that because it’s the C.I.A. director, it must involve bigger issues. Think of a small circle of people who know each other.An anonymous Congressional official • Explaining to the New York Times, based on a briefing from the FBI, the lead-up to the bureau’s discovery of an affair between David Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell. The official said it was a complaint filed months ago regarding harassing emails sent to a woman (who they said to be not a government official or member of family) by Broadwell that drew the gaze of the FBI. When they ultimately gained access to her emails, some of those sent between her and Petraeus revealed they were having an affair. That in and of itself isn’t a legal issue, but the investigation ultimately raised security conerns regarding Petraeus’ email account. Petraeus resigned from his position as CIA director yesterday, citing “extremely poor judgment” in his extra-martial affair. source
#6: Submit your letter of resignation due to an extramarital affair the same week that Newsweek runs a profile on you. (WAIT WHAT??!)
UPDATE: More details from USA Today.
According to Slate, the author of this article I screenshotted above, Paula Broadwell, was the person Petraeus had an affair with. She was also the author of a recent book about him.
Wow.
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Today, CIA Director David Petraeus submitted his letter of resignation to the President. Dave’s decision to step down represents the loss of one of our nation’s most respected public servants. From his long, illustrious Army career to his leadership at the helm of CIA, Dave has redefined what it means to serve and sacrifice for one’s country.
Since he took over as Director in September of last year, he and I have worked together to tackle some of the most challenging issues faced by the Intelligence Community in more than a decade. Under his leadership, the CIA remained instrumental in providing our policy makers decision advantage through the best possible intelligence. I’m particularly thankful for Dave’s unwavering support and personal commitment to my efforts to lead the Intelligence Community and integrate our intelligence enterprise.
Whether he was in uniform leading our nation’s troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, or at CIA headquarters leading the effort to generate intelligence used to keep our nation safe, Dave inspired people who had the privilege of working with him.
I have spent more than five decades serving our country–in uniform and out–and of all the exceptional men and women I have worked with over the years, I can honestly say that Dave Petraeus stands out as one of our nation’s great patriots.
On behalf of the entire Intelligence Community, I thank Dave for his service, his support and his continued friendship.
JUST IN: CIA Director Petraeus resigns, citing extra-marital affair
CIA Director David Petraeus has submitted his letter of resignation to President Obama, citing an extra-marital affair, msnbc’s Andrea Mitchell reports.
Photo: Then-U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus speaks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in June 2010. (Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images)
O_o
#6: Submit your letter of resignation due to an extramarital affair the same week that Newsweek runs a profile on you. (WAIT WHAT??!)
UPDATE: More details from USA Today.
EDIT: The above screenshot is actually extremely relevant to this story.
Days after the Justice Department closed out its criminal investigation of the deaths of two detainees while in the custody of the C.I.A., new information has surfaced calling into question official accounts of the extent of waterboarding by American interrogators.
A new report by the nonprofit group Human Rights Watch, based on documents and interviews in Libya after the fall of its dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, includes a detailed description of what appears to be a previously unknown instance of waterboarding by the C.I.A. in Afghanistan nine years ago.
That claim clashes with repeated assertions by current and former agency officials that only three high-level terrorism suspects — none of them Libyans — were waterboarded.
The account documented by Human Rights Watch could not be independently corroborated. But the report’s description of interrogation methods, based on individual interviews with former prisoners who had not sought out the human rights workers, match up with official documents on C.I.A. techniques. It underscores how much is still not known about the United States’ treatment of terrorist suspects during the early years of the Bush administration.
While the report has yet to be independently verified, this is one story you’re going to want to keep an eye on in the days/weeks ahead.
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