Woodward, Tenet Form Perfect Storm of Ego

NPR confirms book's report

(NEWSER) - Most of the reporting on Bob Woodward’s new book has focused on the internal strife in the Obama administration (see our item on that here .) But JJ Sutherland of NPR noticed another revelation in the recap by the Washington Post : The CIA has a clandestine 3,000-man paramilitary force made up of Afghans that operates in Pakistan. These highly trained “Counterterrorism pursuit teams” conduct sensitive missions against al-Qaeda and Taliban havens. More»

Disclosure of CIA methods will help the enemy, decrease national security, former directors warn

(NEWSER) - Seven former CIA directors—appointees of both political parties—are calling on the Obama administration to call off the Justice Department’s investigation of Bush-era interrogation practices, the Hill reports. The probe, ordered by AG Eric Holder, will reveal too much about the CIA’s methods in an environment where "success often depends on surprise and deception and on creating uncertainty in the mind of an enemy,” the directors wrote. Such disclosure would foster "an atmosphere of continuous jeopardy." More»

Orders Tenet to explain misleading actions on wiretap suit

(NEWSER) - US District Judge Royce Lamberth released hundreds of secret filings yesterday, saying the CIA falsely claimed that state secrets were involved in a 15-year-old wiretapping lawsuit, McClatchy reports. The agency allowed the judge to continue believing that an agent involved in the case was undercover, when in reality that cover had been lifted two years before. That led Lamberth to dismiss the case on national security grounds. More»

(NEWSER) - Not only was the CIA's “targeted killing” program an “open secret,” but there's also “less to it than meets the eye,” Robert Baer writes for Time. The former intelligence officer notes that the Washington Post broke the story in 2001, and a New York Times reporter's book gave the name of the project, "Box Top." “So why all the fuss?” Baer wonders, given that no killings took place and a team was never even assembled. “Very likely because of that word assassination.” More»

Pressured CIA chief spilled fears to Saudi prince

(NEWSER) - George Tenet is vehemently denying a report in a new book that the then-CIA director railed against Bush administration neocons, "referring to them with exaxperation [sic] as, 'the Jews,'" the Atlantic reports. The incident took place in Saudi Prince Bandar's pool after Tenet downed half a bottle of scotch, according to the book, by New York Times reporter Patrick Tyler. Tyler reports in a footnote that Tenet "disputed the remarks attributed to him." More»