CIA Set to Let Skeletons Out of Closet

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»

Illicit 'family jewels' of Watergate era declassified

(NEWSER) - Assassination plots, illegal wiretapping and spying at political conventions were among the lowlights illuminated in hundreds of pages of CIA documents from the Watergate era declassified yesterday. Illicit acts known in the agency as the "family jewels" included a $150,000 CIA payment to a mobster to kill Fidel Castro and a plan to poison an African premier. More»

Draft volume reportedly critical of the agency

(NEWSER) - The CIA doesn't need to reveal a probably-embarrassing Bay of Pigs investigative report to the public, a judge ruled yesterday, because it was never finalized. The National Security Archive, a private group promoting government transparency, had sued for the release of a volume entitled the "CIA's Internal Investigation of the Bay of Pigs Operation," which the CIA describes as "a polemic of recriminations against CIA officers who later criticized the operation." More»

(NEWSER) - A report long suppressed by Bush administration officials set to be released next week says the CIA used mock executions as part of post-9/11 interrogations, Newsweek reports—though federal law prohibits threatening prisoners with “imminent death,” and the practice wasn’t authorized by the Justice Department, unlike other “enhanced” techniques like waterboarding. More»

Economic adviser says Obama acting out of 'morality'

(NEWSER) - The US trade embargo against Cuba won’t be ending anytime soon, President Obama’s economic adviser insisted today. “That’s way down the road, and it’s going to depend on what Cuba does going forward,” Lawrence Summers told NBC’s Meet the Press, saying Obama’s actions are “grounded in American interests, grounded in morality, letting families get back together again.” More»