The WaPo hasn’t offered too much in the way of behind-the-scenes insights regarding [tag]Mary McCarthy[/tag], [tag]Porter Goss[/tag], and the [tag]CIA[/tag], but the paper did the right thing today by highlighting the odd priorities of the director of central intelligence.
[Goss] has taken no disciplinary action against CIA personnel identified by his inspector general as having played a part in the failure to prevent the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He has taken no action against CIA interrogators known to have participated in the torture and killing of foreign detainees, or against those who knowingly violated the Geneva Conventions in Iraq. He has driven a host of senior managers from the agency.
Now he would have the country believe that one of the CIA’s biggest problems — worthy of an unprecedented internal investigation he personally oversaw — is unauthorized leaks to the press. His setting of priorities seems unlikely to improve the CIA’s success rate in judging foreign programs of weapons of mass destruction or preventing the next terrorist attack.
On principle, those who [tag]leak[/tag] classified information are likely breaking the law and should expect accountability. On the details, the leak about secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe exposed a deplorable administration policy. As the WaPo put it, “Maybe disclosure of the prisons damaged national security — the CIA has offered no evidence of that — but it’s hard to imagine what could be more damaging than the existence of the system itself.”
But Goss decided the leak demanded his full and immediate attention. If he’d taken a similar attitude about a host of other issues detailed in the Post editorial, Goss would probably inspire a little more confidence.