Does John Brennan Know Too Much for Obama to Fire Him?
It's difficult to cross [a] man with details on every secret drone strike you've authorized—especially the legally dubious ones.
Conor Friedersdorf
When John Brennan assured the country that the CIA hadn't improperly monitored the Senate team that compiled a report on Bush-era torture, he fed us false information. That much is clear from Thursday's news that "the C.I.A. secretly monitored a congressional committee charged with supervising its activities." Either the CIA director was lying or he was unaware of grave missteps at the agency he leads. There are already calls for his resignation or firing from Senator Mark Udall, Trevor Timm, Dan Froomkin, and Andrew Sullivan, plus a New York Times editorial airing his ouster as a possibility.
President Obama could surprise the country by axing his former counter-terrorism adviser, explaining that under Brennan's management, employees broke laws and undermined the separation of powers core to our democracy. Obama may well make a good-faith effort to act in the national interest. But it's impossible to believe that he won't be aware of the following: No U.S. official knows more than Brennan about Obama's many drone killings. Some of the killings were solidly grounded in international law. And others may have violated the Fifth Amendment, international law, or the laws of war.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/does-john-brennan-know-too-much-to-be-fired-by-barack-obama/375431/
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that there is far more under the radar than most are willing to consider. Lest we forget what that agency does and who does their dirty work. It's a double edged blade and cuts in both directions. We have a professional squad of taxpayer funded mercenaries who have unbridled international carte blanche and who have posed threats to those who would investigate them. I don't doubt for one second that they have a red dot (or several) on the president's temples should he decide to clean up the septic tank upon which much of our foreign policy now floats. It's probably the reinforcement used to get Brenner into his current placement and will keep him there until he stops breathing. The secret ops business is thriving and will continue to do so until the corporate beast devours everything it sees as either nourishment or threat.
