Keeping Brennan as CIA Director = Triumph of Secret Government

[Octafish]

29. Who is Watching the CIA?

Why Brennan Must Go and Obama Must Grow Up

by Melvin A. Goodman
CounterPunch, Weekend Edition August 8-10, 2014

Prior to the start of the Church Committee hearings in 1975, Senator Frank Church (D/ID) referred to the CIA as a “rogue elephant out of control.” I had a conversation with Senator Church in the late 1970s, and he agreed that his remarks were an overstatement and that there were no examples of the CIA conducting even unsavory operations that were not in response to instructions or guidance from the White House.

However, we now have an example of the CIA as a “rogue elephant out of control” in its efforts to block the investigation of the Senate intelligence committee into CIA torture and abuse. For the first time in my memory, the CIA has challenged the constitutional principle of separation of powers, and the oversight committee–the Senate intelligence committee–seems unable to respond effectively.

In March 2014, CIA director John Brennan emphatically denied that CIA officers had penetrated a computer network used by the Senate intelligence committee and had removed seminal documents relevant to the investigation. Brennan, who is known for having tight control over the departments and the decisions of the CIA, said the charge was “beyond the scope of reason.”

Five months later, Brennan apologized to the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee for the CIA’s surreptitious search of congressional computers as well as for the fact that CIA officers created a false online identity to access congressional computers and even to read the email of committee staffers. If Brennan knew in advance about this activity, he should have been immediately fired; if Brennan didn’t know, he should have been immediately fired because it testified to the fact that he has lost control of his Agency.

CONTINUED...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/08/who-is-watching-the-cia/

PS: For those who just fell off the turnip truck, Melvin Goodman is the real deal.