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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When will we... by PoisOnouS · 2014-07-31 06:50 · Score: 5, Funny

get an apology from these lying bastards??
1. 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.
  
  --
  Lost at C:>. Found at C.
2. Re:When will we... by Kenja · 2014-07-31 06:56 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  "lying bastard" is more or less their job description.
  
  --
  
  "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Re:When will we... by gstoddart · 2014-07-31 07:06 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Jail isn't going to do any good unless you put the whole agency in jail.
  OK, fine.
  If there is no oversight, and I don't mean a FISA court whose job it is to say everything is rosy, then you can't have an agency like this.
  Having the CIA directly lying to congress about their activities, and actively spying on the people who are supposed to oversee them is something straight out of fiction -- only it's no longer fiction, they're doing anything they please, and no longer accountable to anybody.
  Fuck, hit them up with a RICO suit. Do ANYTHING.
  What next, he'll go into private industry as a security consultant for corporations? Oh, wait ...
  This is bloody scary. Neither Americans nor the rest of the world signed up for a fucking security agency which is no longer under anyone's control except people who feel they can do anything they want.
  
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  Lost at C:>. Found at C.
6. 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.
7. Re:When will we... by Libertarian_Geek · 2014-07-31 08:57 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  An agency that knows which members of congress are pedophiles and which ones are drug addicts will not be easy to arrest.
  
  --
  
  www.facebook.com/DareDefendOurRights
  
  www.fairtax.org
8. 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.
  
  --
  -Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
  "I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
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?

--
I hope this caused some synapses to fire.
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.
  
  --
  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.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
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:No one calling for resignations by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-31 07:11 · Score: 5, Funny

I think that you misspelled "Promoted" in your analogy.
Re:A senior administration official LIED?!?!?! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-07-31 07:18 · Score: 5, Informative

You haven't been paying attention, blinded by partisan slogan bullshit. This has been happening since before 9/11.
No, you haven't been paying attention.
Obama's DNI Clapper lied under oath to Congress about mass surveillance programs.
Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder was held in Contempt of Congress:

On June 28, 2012, Holder became the first U.S. Attorney General in history to be held in both criminal and civil contempt.
Obama's IRS political appointee and documented raging conservative hater Lois Lerner dog ate her hard drive, and she was also held in Contempt of Congress for refusing to testify under oath about her politicization of the IRS.
So, "this has been happening since before 9/11?
Ummm, BULLSHIT.
So Cabinet-level officials such as the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence have committed perjury during Congressional testimony or been held in Contempt of Congress before?
No, they haven't - every other time officials of that level have been about to be held in Contempt of Congress, the official caved and supplied Congress with what was being asked.
Holder still hasn't turned over the subpenaed documents that were the subject of his being held in Contempt of Congress.
NOTHING has happened to Clapper for committing PERJURY.
And how many more risible excuses is Lerner going to shit out?
Unfortunately, Congress will make itself exempt by tekrat · 2014-07-31 07:31 · Score: 5, Interesting

And Congress *ONLY*.
Consider the following; Until very recently Congress were the only individuals exempt from insider trading laws. Congress is exempt from TSA searches when boarding a plane, Congress is exempt from *not* being paid during government shutdowns.
Congress takes care of itself, NOT the people on the United States. Therefore, Congress will pass a law making itself exempt from CIA/NSA spying and the rest of the country be damned.
Trust me on this one, if there's one thing Congress is consistent about, with 100% bipartisan support, it's about making sure they are elite, untouchable, and completely corrupt.

--
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Re:And no one will go to jail - just like bankers! by Somebody+Is+Using+My · 2014-07-31 08:28 · Score: 5, Informative

9/11 was the most spectacular win for the authoritarians, because they more or less kicked the foundations out from Western society, and have helped to create the worst form of surveillance state you can imagine.
FTFY
9/11 was a very public strike against the West by the terrorists but it did little to benefit their own goals (in fact, given the increased US involvement and the general unrest in the Middle East it probably pushed back their goals somewhat). We got to the current state of affairs in this country by our own doing, thanks to our own home-grown corruption and power-hungry factions and an apathetic populace.
9/11 may not have been engineered by us, but the people in power certainly took advantage of it when it happened.