CIA Vrs the Senate

While Dianne Feinstein has long protected the US Intelligence agencies in the Senate, she finally had enough when the CIA accused her staff of hacking while investigating waterboarding Post 9/11 by the CIA.  She took to the floor of the Senate for 90 minutes denouncing the CIA and their tactics, accusing them of violating the US Constitution.  Ron Wyden agreed in a statement released Tuesday, 3/11/2014.  His language regarding the CIA was very blunt.

In my judgment, the Intelligence Community leadership’s misleading statements on interrogation and many other issues has undermined their credibility. I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that the facts about the CIA’s detention and interrogation program are made public, so that the American people can make up their own minds about what happened and prevent the mistakes of the past from being repeated.

 Even Lindsey Graham rose in wrath according to CNN.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the allegations "dangerous to a democracy," if it's substantiated that the CIA interfered with a congressional investigation.

"Heads should roll, people should go to jail, if it's true. ... I'm going to get briefed on it. If it is, the legislative branch should declare war on the CIA, if it's true," Graham said.

Is the rule of Law in the US Inoperative?

It was Richard Nixon's press secretary Ron Ziegler that made the word "inoperative" a part of American history (it was a euphemism for "We Lied").  Now during the Senate confirmation hearings for John Brennan as head of the CIA we hear echos of inoperative.
SEN. RON WYDEN: Let me ask you several other questions with respect to the president’s authority to kill Americans. I’ve asked you how much evidence the president needs to decide that a particular American can be lawfully killed and whether the administration believes that the president can use this authority inside the United States.

Brennan answers with total gibberish.

JOHN BRENNAN: I have been a strong proponent of trying to be as open as possible with these programs, as far as our explaining what we’re doing. What we need to do is optimize transparency on these issues, but at the same time optimize secrecy and the protection of our national security. I don’t think that it’s one or the other. It’s trying to optimize both of them. And so, what we need to do is make sure we explain to the American people what are the thresholds for action, what are the procedures, the practices, the processes, the approvals, the reviews. The Office of Legal Counsel advice establishes the legal boundaries within which we can operate. It doesn’t mean that we operate at those out of boundaries. And, in fact, I think the American people will be quite pleased to know that we’ve been very disciplined, very judicious, and we only use these authorities and these capabilities as a last resort.

If ever there was the epitome of obfuscating bureaucratic blather, Brennan achieved it in pointedly not ruling out the killing of US citizens on US soil.

So what is the answer to Wyden's question?  What are the rules?  Will they just kill anyone they deem dangerous, no matter where?

Legal Executions

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has asked the Obama administration to answer questions about when and how they decide a US Citizen can be summarily killed after this leaked White Paper was leaked to the press.  He has long been concerned on the lack of transparency by the administration on this subject.  He is in a delicate position since as a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, he knows a lot of the answers, but he can not arbitrarily release them publicly.  He will be bringing up the issue in the John Brennan confirmation hearings as director of the CIA.

Update 2/6/2013 6:45 PM, Wyden wins after threatening to derail Brennan nomination.