CIA Refuses to Hand Over Interrogation Records

Yet told the government they didn't exist

(NEWSER) - The CIA has tapes of confessed 9/11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh’s interrogation in a secret prison in Morocco, even though it has twice told the government that such tapes do not exist. The tapes, two video and one audio, were found in a box under a desk at the agency, and may be the only remaining recordings made within the clandestine prison system; the other 92 videos made at the secret prisons were destroyed, sources tell the AP . More»

(NEWSER) - After being waterboarded 183 times and deprived of sleep for a week, self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Kalid Sheikh Mohammed transformed from an avowed enemy of the US into a sort of CIA guest lecturer, the Washington Post reports. Two anonymous sources, looking to build the case that harsh interrogation worked, say that in 2005 and 2006, KSM gave what CIA officers called “terrorism tutorials,” expounding on al-Qaeda’s structure and even reprimanding his “class” for poor note-taking. More»

In new effort to publicly honor officers

(NEWSER) - CIA agents killed in the line of duty over the last 30 years finally got their due yesterday. The agency revealed the names of 15 such operatives in a ceremony, reports the Los Angeles Times . Many of the fallen officers had been working under the guise of State Department employees. Among the 15 were five killed in the 1983 US Embassy bombing in Beirut and one who was aboard the Lockerbie flight of 1988. 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»

Asks for OK to launch strikes even if it's not sure who will be killed

(NEWSER) - CIA Director David Petraeus has requested permission to launch drone strikes in Yemen even when the agency is not sure who the strikes might kill. Instead, the CIA would launch attacks based on patterns of suspicious activity, much the way it does in Pakistan, a tactic known as "signature strikes," the Washington Post reports. But President Obama has long insisted the agency be more cautious in Yemen, attacking only when it has specific intelligence on targets. More»