Via the NYT: Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project
The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.
[...]
The disclosure about Mr. Cheney’s role in the unidentified C.I.A. program comes a day after an inspector general’s report underscored the central role of the former vice president’s office in restricting to a small circle of officials knowledge of the National Security Agency’s program of eavesdropping without warrants, a degree of secrecy that the report concluded had hurt the effectiveness of the counterterrorism surveillance effort.
That Vice President Cheney was involved in such a program, as well as being involved in keeping said program secret doesn’t surprise me. What is striking about these statement, assuming that they are accurate, is that amount of power that Bush had to have delegated to Cheney for him to be able to act in this fashion. In point of constitutional fact, the vice president is standby equipment intended to be used (so to speak) only in case of emergency and is not in the chain of command. Of course, the president can delegate whatever work that he wishes, and we already knew that Cheney was likely the most powerful vice president of all time, but it is still worth underscoring how remarkable it is to suggest that the vice president was issuing direct orders to the CIA.
The questions of exactly what the program was, what Congress was told and exactly what Cheney ordered remains unclear.
The broader problem here is that the current congressional oversight process over intelligence doesn’t work very well (if at all).
Update: James Joyner also notes the chain of command issue:
For that matter, it’s not entirely clear why they would consider Cheney part of their chain of command. Until early 2005, the CIA Director was dual hatted as Director of Central Intelligence, reporting directly to the president. Subsequently, the roles were split and the CIA Director reported to the Director of National Intelligence. The vice president has only referent power based on the strength of his relationship with the president. Indeed, some would argue that Dick Cheney wasn’t even a member of the executive branch!
On that last point: indeed.
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According to the Christian Science Monitor, “Democratic lawmakers on Sunday implied or flat-out stated that such a failure to inform Congress is illegal.” (quoted from http://www.newsy.com/videos/state_secrets_cheney_s_role_under_fire)
If this is true, this should at least spark an investigation. Innocent until proven guilty, but if the proof is out there, someone should find it.
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