Lawmakers Raise Concerns Over Call for Investigation of C.I.A. Watchdog’s Work

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: New York Times

By SCOTT SHANE and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: October 13, 2007

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 — The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee joined Democrats on Friday in expressing strong concern about an unusual inquiry into the work of the Central Intelligence Agency’s inspector general, John L. Helgerson, saying the review could undermine Mr. Helgerson’s role as independent watchdog.

The inquiry was ordered by the C.I.A. director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, in response to complaints about aggressive investigations by Mr. Helgerson’s office into the agency’s counterterrorism programs.

“The C.I.A. has a track record of resisting accountability,” Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who is the committee’s vice chairman, said in a statement. Mr. Bond said the inspector general had done “great work,” adding, “I will be watching carefully to make sure that nothing is done to restrain or diminish that important office.”...

Some current and former agency officials said the inquiry was improper because it could be viewed as an effort to influence investigations. Mr. Helgerson is finishing several reports on detention, including one on the practice of seizing terrorism suspects and delivering them to foreign prisons, officials who have followed his work said....

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...Representative Silvestre Reyes, the Texas Democrat who is chairman of the House committee, called the inquiry troubling, noting that the inspector general’s independence is written into the law. In a letter, Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, asked Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, to instruct General Hayden to drop the inquiry....

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/washington/13intel.html

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1. Maybe Congress will clock in for work some day

Either torture is illegal or it isn't. We know the Addington crowd defines anything the 'unitary executive' does as legal. It isn't acceptable for Congress to buy into such dictatorial garbage.

Geneva Conventions were fine before the Bush crowd came along. If Gen. Hayden believes he cannot prevent terror attacks without employing torture then he should resign ASAP. Is it a coincidence that the leading advocates of torture seem to be the exact same people (Tenet, Hayden, Bush and Cheney) whose professional conduct was extremely suspicious in the lead up to 9/11? I would say no.