Through The Looking Glass
On Wednesday I posted on a House bill to overhaul the inspector general law. Like the NY Times editorialist who provoked the post, I thought the House bill was an excellent idea, especially given the nature of the current administration. Today, the NY Times has an article up which underscores the importance of that House bill. The current Director of the CIA has moved to investigate the Agency's own Inspector General for looking too closely at CIA interrogation and rendition activities.
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, has ordered an unusual internal inquiry into the work of the agency’s inspector general, whose aggressive investigations of the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation programs and other matters have created resentment among agency operatives.
A small team working for General Hayden is looking into the conduct of the agency’s watchdog office, which is led by Inspector General John L. Helgerson. Current and former government officials said the review had caused anxiety and anger in Mr. Helgerson’s office and aroused concern on Capitol Hill that it posed a conflict of interest.
The review is particularly focused on complaints that Mr. Helgerson’s office has not acted as a fair and impartial judge of agency operations but instead has begun a crusade against those who have participated in controversial detention programs.
Oh, dear! Investigating behavior that contravenes international law has "created resentment" among the spooks! We can't have that, now, can we?
Two things are clear from that article. First, any agency unhappy with the work of its inspector general has two avenues of appeal:
One is the Integrity Committee of the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, which oversees all the inspectors general. The aggrieved agency head can also go directly to the White House.
That Gen. Hayden is investigating his own chief investigator makes no sense, especially given those two options and given this White House. Well, almost no sense.
Officials said Mr. Helgerson’s office was nearing completion on a number of inquiries into C.I.A. detention, interrogation, and “renditions” — the practice of seizing suspects and delivering them to the authorities in other nations.
Apparently Gen. Hayden doesn't want those inquiries completed, and he certainly doesn't want the results of those inquiries known by anyone, including his own agency.
And that is precisely why the House bill to overhaul the Inspector General Law needs to be overwhelmingly passed by the Senate as well. Agency heads should not be able squelch such investigations, no matter how much resentment in the ranks arises.
The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, has ordered an unusual internal inquiry into the work of the agency’s inspector general, whose aggressive investigations of the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation programs and other matters have created resentment among agency operatives.
A small team working for General Hayden is looking into the conduct of the agency’s watchdog office, which is led by Inspector General John L. Helgerson. Current and former government officials said the review had caused anxiety and anger in Mr. Helgerson’s office and aroused concern on Capitol Hill that it posed a conflict of interest.
The review is particularly focused on complaints that Mr. Helgerson’s office has not acted as a fair and impartial judge of agency operations but instead has begun a crusade against those who have participated in controversial detention programs.
Oh, dear! Investigating behavior that contravenes international law has "created resentment" among the spooks! We can't have that, now, can we?
Two things are clear from that article. First, any agency unhappy with the work of its inspector general has two avenues of appeal:
One is the Integrity Committee of the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, which oversees all the inspectors general. The aggrieved agency head can also go directly to the White House.
That Gen. Hayden is investigating his own chief investigator makes no sense, especially given those two options and given this White House. Well, almost no sense.
Officials said Mr. Helgerson’s office was nearing completion on a number of inquiries into C.I.A. detention, interrogation, and “renditions” — the practice of seizing suspects and delivering them to the authorities in other nations.
Apparently Gen. Hayden doesn't want those inquiries completed, and he certainly doesn't want the results of those inquiries known by anyone, including his own agency.
And that is precisely why the House bill to overhaul the Inspector General Law needs to be overwhelmingly passed by the Senate as well. Agency heads should not be able squelch such investigations, no matter how much resentment in the ranks arises.
Labels: CIA
posted by Diane at 4:07 AM
1 Comments:
It seems like Hayden might be trying to protect somebody. I wonder who that could be?
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