| More follow-up. |
"This was not a program. It never began," the former official said. "The authority was given by Congress to develop this idea. ... There was no need to brief it. It wasn't a reality."
| Authority from Congress, eh? Wonder if there's a roll-call vote ... |
| Let's investigate that Congressional authorization while we're at it ... |
Panetta told the committees there was no indication of anything illegal or inappropriate about the effort itself, the official said. But after Panetta told congressional lawmakers that he canceled the program, House Democrats also called on the CIA director to retract his statement that the CIA does not mislead Congress. Panetta made that statement after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed the CIA lied to Congress.
The former intelligence official suggested House Democrats made the demand for the sake of providing Pelosi political cover.
"If you notice, Director Panetta briefed both (the Senate and House) intelligence committees on the same day ... about the same issue. Did you hear anyone from the Senate intelligence committee say anything about it?"
The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday that the CIA was developing the Al Qaeda program and had spent money for planning and possibly training, acting on a 2001 presidential pronouncement. The CIA also briefly examined the possibility of targeted assassinations of Al Qaeda leaders in 2001, the Journal reported, though it's not clear whether that was a part of the program Panetta stopped.
Congress has a right to know everything the CIA does, but the president can by law limit those told about covert operations to just the top four members of the House and Senate from the two parties and the senior members of the intelligence committees. Democrats on the House intelligence committee are pushing for a legal provision that would require the president to brief both committees in their entirety more often, but the White House has threatened to veto that.
| Because Obama finally understands why Bush said no ... |