Senator Wyden Attacks CIA Redaction Demands As 'Unprecedented'
from the unprecedented-problems-may-need-unprecedented-solutions dept
It's well known that CIA's been stalling over the release of the officially declassified 480 page "executive summary" of the 6,300 page CIA torture report, put together by staffers of the Senate Intelligence Committee over many years at a cost of $40 million. It's known that the report is somewhat devastating to the CIA and the CIA isn't happy about it (at all). Originally, the CIA suggested redactions that made the report incomprehensible, even as James Clapper said it was "just 15%" that was redacted. Recent reports have focused on the fight over redacting pseudonyms. Apparently the CIA wants all names, including pseudonyms redacted, while the Senate Intelligence Committee thinks that pseudonyms (but not real names) should be left in so that the report accurately reflects if the actions were done by a large number of diverse individuals, or by some particular individuals again and again and again. The CIA, likely employing some sort of "mosaic theory" claim, say that they're worried that even with pseudonyms, identifying the same person in a few different situations will make it easier for some to figure out who they are.In response, Senator Ron Wyden has attacked the CIA's position and noted that it's "unprecedented" and that plenty of other, similar, reports have made use of pseudonyms, without a problem.
So why does the CIA seem to think it's such a problem here? Well, mainly because the CIA is willing to do just about anything to stop this report, perhaps in an effort to run out the clock until some more "CIA friendly" Senators take over. Still, it seems that the more the CIA fights over this, the more and more likely it is that someone is just going to leak the damn report, and it may reveal a lot more than what's currently on the table.The CIA’s current opposition to using pseudonyms runs contrary to decades of precedent. U.S. government agencies have used pseudonyms to protect agents’ identities in public reports going back decades, including:
- Review of the FBI’s Involvement in and Observations of Detainee Interrogations in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq (2008) – Refers to FBI Special Agents involved in detainee interrogations using pseudonyms such as “Thomas” and “Gibson.”
- The 9/11 Commission Report (2004) – Refers to agents involved in hunting Osama Bin Ladin and other sensitive operations using pseudonyms such as “Mike,” “Richard,” “Jeff.” Pages 110, 112, 113, 114, 130, 131, 133, 138, 142, 204.
- The Investigation of the Abu Ghraib Detention Facility (2004) – Refers to CIA employees at the Abu Ghraib prison using pseudonyms such as “Other Agency Employee01,” “Other Agency Employee02,” etc. Pages 53, 54, 55, 76
- Final Report of the Assassination Records Review Board – (1998) – Includes the names of some CIA officers, and notes that “in some cases pseudonyms are used instead of an individual’s true name.” (p. 52) Also notes that “the Review Board would not agree to CIA’s request for blanket postponements of CIA names.” Page 48.
- Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair (1987) – refers to a CIA station chief in Central America using the pseudonym “Tomas Castillo. “ Pages pp. 139, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 505-510.
- Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders – (1975) – Report authored by the Church Committee notes that “We believe that the public is entitled to know what instrumentalities of their Government have done,” and that “the Committee, on occasions, resorted, on balance, to the use of an alias or a general description of the individual or his position.” Page 2.
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Filed Under: cia, redactions, ron wyden, torture report
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Senator Wyden - just leak the damned thing already...
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Perhaps I am naive and obtuse, however...
It is the senate intelligence committee's report. They voted to declassify it, don't that make it de-classified?
I would think that from the CIA's perspective that would be as good as wholly redacted as someone would have to be watching C-Span to notice.
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Re: Perhaps I am naive and obtuse, however...
Seriously, how insanely stupid do you have to be to give the very agency who's actions the report is covering veto power over just what is and is now 'allowed' to be released?
'Well let's see, this, this and this make us look bad, remove all of it. Oh, this exposes some actions of dubious legality we did, gotta make sure to take that out. And this shows how we blatantly lied to the ones meant to oversee us in order to continue to do whatever we felt like, definitely going to have to remove that...'
What takes this to truly legendary levels of idiocy is they aren't even fighting to stop the release of the 'main' report, the really damning one with all the details, but the 'executive summary', the condensed version that was meant to be released.
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Without accountability, there can be no change. Without change, there is no hope. I was all a bunch of lies.
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Compromise
For people lower in the hierarchy, names and pseudonyms may be removed, but an "authority class" should be used in place. For example: agent, senior agent, clandestine agent, foreign agent, foreign senior agent, and etc. The classes assigned should reflect the individual's tier in the CIA or foreign authority hierarchy.
The purpose of this compromise would be to overcome most of the name/pseudonym objections, retaining only those names that are top-level public policymakers, so we can assess the legality of their actions. For lower level people, it should clarify the authority position for assessment of the control hierarchy, without allowing identification of individuals.
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Re: Compromise
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If Udall loses
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Mosaic Theory
Please, in order to identify anybody, you'd need to match it against a dossier on them constructed from metadata about their movements, conversations, and ... oh.
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What would happen with pseudonyms:
And with international arrest warrants and an international interest, connecting the dots for deducing the real identity behind a pseudonymous identity might indeed be possible.
But the U.S.A. loves and protects their war criminals in the "war against terrorism", or any other war. And they want to keep them doing their job, humanity be damned. Obama has already called them out as heroes.
I don't think anybody called Dr Mengele a hero even while he was still active, and he had to find asylum far away from Germany when his job ended.
What did your grandparents even fight for?
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Re: What would happen with pseudonyms:
To make the millionaires running Shell Oil, Alcoa, Ford and a few dozen other industries, into billionaires.
That is what all wars are fought for. Money. Power.
The children of the men who made millions in profit from WW1 could hardly wait to start WW2 and they made billions off that war.
The wars we have today, while prevented from becoming World Wars by the advent of Atomic Weapons (you cannot spend radio-active gold), are still big enough that the US had to borrow billions from China to pay for the un-declared invasion of Iraq.
The children of the WW2 billionaires still make a fortune from these little wars - from the sale of war toys and the hidden criminal activity that always accompanies a war.
Yes Marjorie, daddy and grandpa died in the wars so that US millionaires could become billionaires.
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So release the whole thing
What's not expendable is the truth. Every word in those documents is the property of the American people, and it must be handed over to us without any further delay.
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Re: So release the whole thing
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Perhaps its time to use some of their methods on them
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What will be exposed...
2. Huge waste of time
3. Unnecessarily torturing human beings, without any due process of law. (This is a tool used by oppressive regimes and terrorists)
4. More attempts at manipulating foreign governments by supplying weapons and aid to borderline terrorists (which always turns out well. I believe it's what got us into this in the first place...)
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http://wp.me/p4X83e-s
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Oh good, now the Republicans will bury the torture report.
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Re: Oh good, now the Republicans will bury the torture report.
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Ummmmm... can't get things done.... like what, for instance??
Humor me.
List a few things that only be done by "the state", or "centralized authority".
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wonder whats in there thats such a big deal???
Just a guess (really) but I'll bet this particular rabbit hole runs significantly deeper than just waterboarding or clamping electrodes to scrotums. MKDELTA and MKULTRA were just the beginning. Thats so vintage mid-century. Count on heavy use of drugs and sophisticated electronics for this torture session you won't be able to remember later.
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Re: wonder whats in there thats such a big deal???
Methinks that quite the opposite is the case and its that fact precisely which is causing all the near panic at the top of the food chain.
I think the report will show that, like a bunch of delinquent kids left on an island to fend for themselves, these officially condoned idiot torturers were just torturing people for fun and giggles - trying to outdo each other by coming up with new ways to make their victims suffer.
I think the report will show that there really was no actual expectation of "gaining intel", or wresting useful confessions from the prisoners/victims. They were just inventing new and different ways to cause pain.
I think it was just a modern american horror story and the Boys At The Top do not want the world to see just how childish, immature and irresponsible they really are.
Of course the reality of it all is that we will likely never know. How long did they legally bury the facts behind the Kennedy Assassination - to protect the guilty?
I figure this report - if it ever gets released at all - will likely double that length of time.... unless some awesome individual and true American Patriot finally decides to leak the un-redacted 1600 page version onto the internet.
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correction....sigh
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