CIA

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DOJ Probes Itself Over Torture Memos

Ethics chief reveals inquiry into advice that OK'd waterboarding

(Newser) - The Department of Justice is probing its own legal approval of waterboarding for the CIA, the New York Times reports. DOJ ethics chief H. Marshall Jarrett confirmed today that his office is conducting the first public inquiry of the 5-year-old advice and may issue a non-classified report when it is...

CIA: Rendition Flights Landed in UK Territory

Brits apologize for earlier denials of ties to terror cases

(Newser) - Two US flights carrying terror suspects for interrogation abroad—a practice known as extraordinary rendition—landed on British territory in 2002, confirmed CIA Director Michael Hayden today. Though the UK previously denied such landings, Foreign Secretary David Miliband admitted planes refueled on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, reports...

How US Tried to Whack Castro
How US Tried to Whack Castro
Feb 21, 2008 2:09 PM CST

How US Tried to Whack Castro

CIA devised creative means to remove Cuban president

(Newser) - Despite several assassination attempts against Fidel Castro, the Cuban president stepped down Tuesday on his own terms. The CIA came up with at least eight sometimes-kooky ways to oust the leader, CNN reports, most of which were not carried out:
  • Chemical attack on the air of his radio station.
  • Cigars
...

Is He Against Torture?
Is He Against Torture?
OPINION
Feb 19, 2008 6:45 PM CST

Is He Against Torture?

The LA Times accuses Mac of flip-flopping on a key issue

(Newser) - The LA Times editorial board today slammed John McCain for a vote the paper feels undermines the senator’s “admirable” opposition to torture in interrogations. McCain, whom the Times endorsed earlier this month, voted against legislation that forbids CIA interrogators from using waterboarding or other methods banned by the...

CIA Lost a Fortune on Failed Terror Traps

Bogus firms failed to provide effective cover for overseas spies

(Newser) - CIA officials lost a bundle after 9/11 setting up fake businesses to ensnare suspected terrorists in a strategy it now concedes was ill-conceived, reports the Los Angeles Times. The agency spent hundreds of millions of dollars to establish 12 enterprises in Europe and elsewhere to provide a convincing cover for...

Bush Rips Congress on Waterboarding Ban

Families of London bomb victims know 'nature of killers,' he tells interviewer

(Newser) - President Bush blasted the congressional move to ban waterboarding last night, suggesting that relatives of London bombing victims would understand the need for such interrogation techniques. Victims' families "understand the nature of killers," he told the BBC. He said lawmakers "are imposing a set of standards in...

Waterboarding Is Illegal: Justice Dept.

Legal expert to tell House committee it's no longer acceptable

(Newser) - A top Justice Department official will declare to a House subcommittee today that waterboarding is no longer legal—a day after Congress defied President Bush's veto threat to explicitly outlaw the controversial interrogation tactic. "The set of interrogation methods authorized for current use is narrower than before, and it...

Judge Blocks Terror Kidnap Suit Against Boeing

Rendition case declared too secret to be tried

(Newser) - A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that charged a flight-planning company owned by Boeing with helping the CIA fly terror suspects to secret overseas dungeons. He ruled such a case could reveal state secrets, and that "proceeding would jeopardize national security and foreign relations," reports the...

Cheney Touts Harsh Interrogations
Cheney Touts Harsh Interrogations
Feb 8, 2008 5:20 AM CST

Cheney Touts Harsh Interrogations

As CIA boss concedes tactics may be illega

(Newser) - Dick Cheney yesterday defended the use of controversial interrogation techniques, crediting them with possibly “foiling an attack against the US," just as the director of the CIA was conceding to a congressional committee that waterboarding may be illegal. The VP defended the use of  “a tougher program...

CIA Acknowledges Waterboarding 3 Suspects

Senate committee hears specifics, warning of possible Al-Qaeda spread

(Newser) - The CIA used waterboarding three times following the 9/11 attacks, the agency's current director testified today. Interrogators used the method on suspected attack planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two top al Qaeda members, Reuters reports. Michael Hayden's statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee marks the first time a US official...

Look Who's Trying Out Waterboarding
Look Who's Trying Out Waterboarding
Jan 31, 2008 12:38 PM CST

Look Who's Trying Out Waterboarding

Young men sample torture technique to settle debate

(Newser) - As the debate over waterboarding continues unabated, it has occurred to more than one cocky—or conscientious—young man that anyone can see for himself what it feels like, and whether it constitutes torture. The Wall Street Journal talks to several who've tried it—using friends with no special training....

Senate Grills Mukasey Today on Waterboarding

Mukasey warns he'll stonewall on questions about legality

(Newser) - A high-noon face off is looming today between Attorney General Michael Mukasey and the Senate Judiciary Committee over waterboarding, the simulated drowning interrogation technique that many consider torture. Committee chair Patrick Leahy said Mukasey faces "serious questions" on the issue at today's hearing. But Mukasey has warned Leahy in...

Musharraf Nixes Greater CIA Role in Pakistan

In secret meetings, US spy chiefs sought larger combat role

(Newser) - Washington's top two intelligence officials made a secret trip to Pakistan this month "to convince Musharraf that time is ticking," the New York Times reports, quoting senior officials. DNI director Mike McConnell and CIA chief Michael Hayden sought greater latitude for the CIA to operate in Pakistan's near-lawless...

Cybercrooks Hacking Power Grid
Cybercrooks Hacking Power Grid
Jan 20, 2008 8:38 AM CST

Cybercrooks Hacking Power Grid

In cities outside the US, hackers shut down grid for blackmail

(Newser) - Foreign extortionists have managed to hack into US power grids and shut them down, PC World reports, citing a CIA analyst speaking at a security conference this week. "In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not know who executed these...

CIA Chief Names Groups Behind Bhutto Assassination

Pakistani militants, al-Qaeda blamed

(Newser) - The CIA director blames a cooperative effort by al-Qaeda and a group of Pakistani militants for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the Washington Post reports. The conclusion jibes with the explanation Pervez Musharraf has offered, though some Pakistanis still suspect the president and his government had a hand in the...

CIA 'Gulled' Court on Torture Tapes, Says Judge

May quiz officials himself

(Newser) - A federal judge said he suspects the CIA lied to his court about tapes showing the harsh interrogations of two al-Qaeda leaders, the New York Times reports. The CIA claims no records exist concerning the tapes, which were destroyed in 2005. But the judge, currently deciding a Freedom of Information...

Waterboarding Is Torture: US Intelligence Chief

Can't imagine 'how painful,' says McConnell

(Newser) - US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said it "would be torture" if he were subjected to the controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding. "If I had water draining into my nose, God, I just can't imagine how painful!" McConnell told the New Yorker. "For me, it...

Judge Refuses to Step Into CIA Tape Case

Justice Department's investigation sufficient for now, justice rules

(Newser) - A federal judge today denied a request by a lawyer representing terrorism suspects that he open hearings into the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes, the AP reports. Judge Henry H. Kennedy said that he had no evidence that the Bush administration had defied court orders and that the Justice Department's...

Ex-CIA Agent Agee Dies in Cuba Exile

Critic of US policy wrote exposé of alleged spy agency misdeeds

(Newser) - Philip Agee, an ex-CIA spook who became a critic of US policies in Cuba, has died in Havana after surgery at age 72. Agee quit the CIA in 1969, and in 1975 published a book detailing the agency's alleged unethical policies against Latin American leftists. Agee moved to Cuba in...

CIA May Launch New Covert Ops in Pakistan

Seeks to thwart al-Qaeda muscle; but Pakistan won't stand for it

(Newser) - Bush administration officials are weighing plans for the CIA and US military to conduct new, more aggressive covert operations in Pakistan, the New York Times reports. The proposal is a response to growing al-Qaeda and Taliban efforts to destabilize Pakistan, cast in sharp focus by the assassination of former prime...

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