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.
— “Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project,” Scott Shane, New York Times (more here)
Details of the CIA program remain secret; what has leaked is information about the former Vice President’s role in concealing the activities from Congressional intelligence oversight committees. This comes a day after inspector generals of five intelligence agencies reported that Mr. Cheney’s office restricted knowledge about a warrantless eavesdropping program of questionable legality, and the excessive restrictions diminished any usefulness the data might have had.
More:
Cheney to CIA: Don’t Tell Congress About Program,” Slate
“Former vice president Cheney faces probe over secret CIA unit,” Daily Mail
“Hidden CIA Program Draws Call for Probe,” CQ Politics
“Cheney ‘ordered CIA to hide plan,'” BBC
“Official: Cheney, Tenet hid CIA program,” Washington Times
“Dick Cheney ordered CIA to conceal counter-terror operations from Congress,” The Times
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Tags: Cheney, CIA, Dick Cheney
March 11, 2010 at 11:48 pm
[…] her Constitution-redacting Dad, Lynn Cheney would deny counsel to Gitmo defendants. We imagine the Cheneys would throw John Adams […]
June 16, 2013 at 5:00 pm
[…] government contractor, Satan spawn, and G.W. Bush puppet master Dick Cheney is the father of U.S. telecom data-mining and warrantless wiretapping. He defended his secret surveillance […]