A partisan witch-hunt at the CIA?

April 24, 2006

In case you missed it over the weekend, the WaPo reported that the CIA is responding to the Mary McCarthy leak on secret prisons by doing a little more digging — into partisan affiliations.

The White House also has recently barraged the agency with questions about the political affiliations of some of its senior intelligence officers, according to intelligence officials.

Don’t forget the context here. The White House has leaked classified information for political purposes with no consequence. Indeed, as far as the Bush gang is concerned, the president can leak whatever he wants, whenever he wants. When a senior CIA official apparently decides to expose a legally dubious scheme, however, the White House wants to know if there are any Democrats at the agency that Bush needs to worry about.

Yes, it appears that McCarthy was a Dem. And yes, it appears she leaked classified information. But that in no way justifies the White House pressuring the CIA to see if there are any other Democrats lurking around.

It’s about turning the CIA into just another partisan agency. Raise your hand if you’re surprised.

i wonder if there’s also a partisan aspect to hiring. are those who are not republican discouraged from applying or more likely to be dinged if they do?

  • It’s about turning the CIA into just another partisan agency. Raise your hand if you’re surprised.

    Well, I’m surprised it too so long.

  • LEt’s get the Government working again the way it suppossed to. Can you help Bev at Black Box Voting stop the election fraud by responding to her request below?

    As we know, the Diebold factor can easily turn a 10 seat swing to zilch. We have got to expose them for waht they are. A neighbor of mine, whom I like alot, told me that I was being “pessimistic and jaded” when I was voicing a concern to her about voting under a system that does not provide a paper trail. The general public needs to hear the true story behind Diebold. They must be exposed. If we don’t get the word out, the fraud will continue because few believe that the out county’s democratic process is already compromised to such a damaging degree. Help us to make it happen if you possibly can. See below for a message I just received from Bev at Black Box:

    Input requested on lay of the land in state politics re: election reform

    Black Box Voting goes local a lot. We do field work at the local level.
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    http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/73/27403.html

    Which people are the most approachable? Which ones typically impede
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    We’re not talking federal. State and local only, please:

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    Ohio: Senator Theresa Fedor — strong record on reform
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    This one’s important. If you can provide phone numbers for each of their
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    If you have a relationship with someone who you believe can be helpful,
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    Many thanks. It vitally important.

  • What surprised me is that conservative talking heads actually mentioned the fact that Mary McCarthy gave money to the Kerry campaign. Have they NO IDEA of how much they are demoralizing the Intelligence Community digging this stuff up?

    Some of these people are just too stupid to allow to breed.

  • What exactly will the White House do with those who are identified as Democrats? Fire them before the fact? Have them transferred to the boiler room?

    And I thought the White House neither confirmed or denied the existence of the prisons, seeing how they are becoming a political hot potato for the host countries.
    Does this mean the Bush administration confirms the existence of these prisons, and the use of torture at them? After Bush said at the end of last year that “we don’t torture”?

  • Lance – the real question is do they realize that in plaing this game they are also pissing them off. They may not care but blowback is a bitch. Bush only has 2+ years left and the next DCI may actually have no partisan agenda.

  • So, if an employee gives money to a Democratic candidate that is considered partisan, but if a former Republican representative calls for that employee’s head, that is good government?

  • “They may not care but blowback is a bitch.” – ET

    Let’s see. Porter Goss is blaming the CIA for intelligence failures. Rumsfeld is blaming his retired generals for critizing ‘his’ and Franks war plans. The Bush White House operatives mascurade as Secret Service agents and give the service a bad name. Rice blames the soldiers and company officers for ‘thousands of tactical errors’.

    These people must be supremely self-confident to be insulting every source of real ‘extra’-constitutional power in this country.

  • Using a donation to the opposing party as part of your evidence to fire someone seems high handed to the point of treason. Are none of our laws valid anymore? That has got to be illegal. Is this America or is it the USSR? We have to throw these bums out.

  • This is very similar to the Plame outing, as Kerry noted: Both dared to tell the truth and expose administration lies, so both were punished. Same with Sibel Edmonds and Colleen Rowley. Notice anything simliar about all the bad apples in the intelligence community?

    It’s all part of the old network, I think. Women spooks are supposed to be leggy seductresses who use their femininely wiles to extract information from horny enemy agents. Not analysts with access to hard intelligence, and with well-reasoned criticisms that threaten to undo carefully crafted lies. Women aren’t to sit at the Foreign Desk; they are to be chased around it.

    Them bitches got to learn they place. Gettin’ coffee and showin’ some leg and such. Open yer yap, and yer gone, baby.

  • The news of this witch-hunt was probably leaked. That would be a bad sign for the White House.

  • The clear message here is that the WH will tell the CIA what to say and when to say it. You wont have much of an Intelligence agency left if you’re successful at cramming this down their throats.

    This will not help in fighting terrorism. Already some of the foreign intelligence agencies we work with have commented that the CIA is going down-hill.

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