CIA Director Brennan Admits He Was Lying: CIA Really Did Spy On Congress

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CIA Director Brennan Admits He Was Lying: CIA Really Did Spy On Congress

Posted by timothy on Thursday July 31, 2014 @06:48AM from the note-the-passive-voice-and-weasel-words dept.

Bruce66423 (1678196) writes with this story from the Guardian: The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, issued an extraordinary apology to leaders of the US Senate intelligence committee on Thursday, conceding that the agency employees spied on committee staff and reversing months of furious and public denials. Brennan acknowledged that an internal investigation had found agency security personnel transgressed a firewall set up on a CIA network, called RDINet, which allowed Senate committee investigators to review agency documents for their landmark inquiry into CIA torture." (Sen. Diane Feinstein was one of those vocally accusing the CIA of spying on Congress; Sen. Bernie Sanders has raised a similar question about the NSA.)

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And no one will go to jail by bfmorgan · 2014-07-31 06:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

So why is lying to Congress not a punishable offense?

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1. Re:And no one will go to jail by gstoddart · 2014-07-31 07:02 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  It is. The next step would be for the Senate oversight committee to vote to refer the matter for prosecution. The question is whether they want to go down this road or not.
  The way I see it, if they don't go for prosecution, they've more or less given these agencies carte blanche to violate the law, lie about it, and have no consequences.
  Sorry, but I think this sounds like treason, or at the very least an indication that all of the assurances we've had that they're playing by the rules is a pile of shit.
  So, the question of "do you spy on Americans?" "Are you in compliance with the law?" "Have you been using this information to make yourself rich?" -- every single thing they do pretty much must be distrusted.
  Blatantly lying to Congress means they've reached a point where they don't give a shit.
  This is madness.
  
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  Lost at C:>. Found at C.
2. Re:And no one will go to jail by drinkypoo · 2014-07-31 07:35 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The way I see it, if they don't go for prosecution, they've more or less given these agencies carte blanche to violate the law, lie about it, and have no consequences.
  Welcome to the American legal system, where selective prosecution is standard operating procedure. The only reason to have a legal system which does not require prosecution for known crimes is to permit treating some people differently than others. It leads to the proliferation of bad laws.
  
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Re:When will we... by gstoddart · 2014-07-31 06:56 · Score: 5, Insightful

Fuck the apology. Put him in jail.
At this point there is no choice but to assume that when the CIA and NSA say they're in compliance with the law, they're bloody well lying.
When they're outright lying to the people who oversee them, they've become a criminal organization.

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Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Re:When will we... by Kenja · 2014-07-31 06:56 · Score: 5, Insightful

"lying bastard" is more or less their job description.

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Beware the monster you abide by BenJeremy · 2014-07-31 06:59 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's a disease that needs to be stomped out, mercilessly. Allowing the NSA, DHS and CIA (hell, even the IRS, for that matter) to continue to operate as they are allowed to will swallow up the last vestiges of America and its dream.
The dystopia exists now but it's not too late to turn back.
Re:When will we... by rahvin112 · 2014-07-31 07:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

Jail isn't going to do any good unless you put the whole agency in jail.
The solution is a massive budget cut and laws that make specific conduct not only illegal but automatically appoint special prosecutors to act on. Then you put into law and fund an agency who's entire job is to spy on the CIA and report every time they break the law. The biggest problem with the post 9/11 revisions was we gave all these people basically immunity to do whatever they want in the name of national security. It's obscene.
Re:When will we... by alexo · 2014-07-31 07:04 · Score: 5, Insightful

Jail isn't going to do any good unless you put the whole agency in jail.
Fine by me.
Re:When will we... by Somebody+Is+Using+My · 2014-07-31 08:18 · Score: 5, Insightful

While I agree that it was more than just Berman doing illegal things, I think that by throwing him (and a selection of others) into prison it would send a message to the rest that this sort of activity is not condoned. This will make the rest reconsider taking the same actions.
Right now most people are "just following orders" because there are consequences to not doing so (losing their jobs) and no consequences to disobeying. We need to change that.
So yeah, throw him and his cronies in jail.
Re:When will we... by Pfhorrest · 2014-07-31 10:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

How exactly is a massive government agency massively overstepping its already questionable legal bounds a result of "you wanted smaller government"? That sounds exactly like a prime example of bigger government and why someone might want a smaller one.

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