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by Within the next week, nearly 700 pages of CIA documents will be officially declassified. Such disclosures are often made as either a result of the Freedom of Information Act or simply as the passage of time dictates documents are no longer sensitive. Advance material already indicates this disclosure will include a variety of questionable activities from the 60s and 70s ranging from assassination plans, torture and unwarranted surveillance. Michael Hayden, the CIA Director commented, "The documents provide a glimpse of a very different time and a very different agency ... it is CIA's history."
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Old News by Occams :: NR6 :: Show
I suspect that these new FOI releases will confirm what is already old news.
Intelligence agencies operate in the world of intelligence rather than evidence, where police and the FBI (except when gathering intel for its home defense role) must operate. The law has very strong controls over the police evidence collection methods using covert listening devices, cameras, telephone interception, and on-line monitoring. In the evidence world courts are shown what investigators have been doing and there is an automatic exposure of bad behavior.
By contrast, intelligence is gathered, filed, and kept secret. There is no judicial review, and much more scope for politically motivated or corrupt behavior. We therefore have to place much greater trust in our intelligence agencies. It would be irresponsible to place such trust without having mechanisms to audit performance to ensure that the intelligence powers are not being used inappropriately.
No doubt there have been times in the past when the monitoring function was not performed well and the agencies ran of the rails to some extent. Such failure is the fault of the politicians and officials who have the oversight function more than of the agencies themselves. The things that happened and the consequences are part of our history and we should be allowed to know all about it once any risk from exposure is over. The facts should never be suppressed because of the embarrassment factor. Politicians who let us down should be exposed. Agency officials who exceeded their authority should be fired and prosecuted.
Today we need capable, high performing intelligence agencies more than ever before. The nation is ready to give these agencies everything they need to combat terrorism and keep America safe. All the more reason to ensure that we have a system that protects us from the misuse of agency powers.