In a move that should surprise no one, the CIA’s decision to destroy videos of “enhanced interrogation techniques” in action has prompted multiple investigations, including a preliminary probe from the Justice Department.
The Justice Department and the CIA’s Office of the Inspector General said Saturday that they had launched a joint inquiry into the CIA’s controversial destruction of videotaped interrogations of two Al Qaeda suspects. The preliminary inquiry would be a first step in determining whether a full investigation and potential criminal charges were warranted. […]
One staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaking on condition of anonymity because the inquiry is ongoing, said the CIA’s actions could amount to obstruction of justice and false testimony to Congress — both federal crimes — because the agency did not turn over requested interrogation tapes to the congressionally appointed Sept. 11 commission.
The CIA has agreed to “preserve any records or other documentation that would facilitate this inquiry,” Asst. Atty. Gen. Kenneth L. Wainstein, head of the Justice Department’s national security division, said in a letter Saturday to the CIA’s acting general counsel, John A. Rizzo.
In addition to the CIA and DOJ investigations, both the Senate and House Intelligence Committees have started their own investigations.
The extent of the investigation, and the likelihood of any kind of accountability, remains unclear — it’s just too soon to tell — but at a minimum, these probes have the potential to be very revealing.
A few angles to keep in mind, based on this morning’s news:
* The CIA officially claims to “welcome” the inquiry, but there’s reason to believe the agency is a little more concerned that it lets on.
[The position of John Rizzo, the CIA’s senior lawyer], together with the fact that the C.I.A. inspector general, John L. Helgerson, is now examining the matter, indicates a greater level of internal concern at the agency over the destruction than Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director, indicated in his message to agency employees on Thursday. General Hayden’s message said that Mr. Helgerson’s office had reviewed the tapes in 2003, but did not mention whether the inspector general had signed off on their destruction.
* Get to know the name Jose Rodriguez.
The agency operative who ordered the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the chief of the C.I.A.’s national clandestine service, known as the Directorate of Operations until 2005. On Saturday, a government official who had spoken recently with Mr. Rodriguez on the matter said that Mr. Rodriguez told him that he had received approval from lawyers inside the clandestine service to destroy the tapes.
* What’s the likelihood that Rodriguez deserves the full blame? Very small.
Last night on CNN, Ron Suskind — author of the One Percent Doctrine — said the idea that Rodriquez didn’t get “some authorization from above” is “hard to believe.” “It simply doesn’t work that way,” Suskind said, noting that “at this point, lots was being authorized from the White House in terms of the CIA.”
* Were these the only videos destroyed? Perhaps not.
* Feeling a little behind? The LAT runs a Q&A primer on what we’ve learned so far, and what happens next.
Stay tuned.