Post by the Scribe on Apr 14, 2020 10:17:30 GMT
Apr 29, 2018 4:45:27 GMT @ronstadtfanaz said:
This is an excerpt from a recent interview with former CIA Chief John Brennan who is perhaps the most forthcoming and anti-Trump director that I can remember. This is an interview worth listening to in full. Here is part 2 where I got this from: www.npr.org/2018/04/27/606580127/why-former-cia-director-john-brennans-criticism-of-trump-is-extremely-rareI am just trying to get some understanding of how the CIA operates and justifies some of its actions. One must read between the lines here but it sure seems like there are entities within that organization that are not within the law or oversight of even the director. That is problematic in so many ways. But far be it for me to even speculate accurately.
Oft times I have wondered if the CIA does nefarious things because they have information gathered in ways they couldn't even talk about like information from the future, from time travel or travelers and they are coming back to tweak things now in order to prevent later catastrophes. But if that were happening how would they know that they weren't being gamed by some unseen evil reptilian race that feeds off our killing, wars and hatred now and the information gained wasn't some sort of mind game?
ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/atc/2018/04/20180427_atc_why_former_cia_director_john_brennans_criticism_of_trump_is_extremely_rare.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1122&d=495&p=2&story=606580127&siteplayer=true&dl=1
KELLY: I want to ask you whether it is the CIA's job to steal secrets. You in a past interview with me at CIA headquarters when you were still running the agency - this is 2016. And I asked you your view about the agency's core mission of espionage and stealing secrets. And you said this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BRENNAN: We don't steal secrets. We - everything we do is consistent with U.S. law. We uncover. We discover. We reveal. We obtain. We elicit. We solicit - all of that.
KELLY: John Brennan, I will tell you that aired on NPR, and my phone started ringing off the hook with CIA veterans calling, saying, what? Stealing secrets is the whole point of the CIA.
BRENNAN: Yeah. I remember that interview quite well because there were a lot of people who took issue with it. And I have been rather frustrated over the years by people claiming that the intelligence community - CIA, NSA and other things - break the law. And I was making the point that everything that CIA and NSA does is consistent with the law. And so when we go out and collect intelligence overseas, it may be breaking the laws of other countries because we're engaged in espionage, but it's wholly consistent with U.S. law.
KELLY: So in other countries, does the CIA steal secrets?
BRENNAN: (Laughter) Sure. Yes, they do in other countries. But again, stealing is not what we do here in the United States, you know, because people were, you know, concerned about what we're doing vis a vis American citizens and on U.S. soil. The CIA's been accused and the intelligence community has been accused of killing people as well. We don't kill. And so I was trying to make the point that we don't break the law.
KELLY: The CIA has carried out targeted assassinations in its history. It's carried out drone strikes that have killed people.
BRENNAN: There's never been an acknowledgement of that at all, absolutely not.
KELLY: You're denying it.
BRENNAN: I'm saying that, well, if there were such a program, it would be a covert action program, and it would be something that wouldn't be acknowledged by the agency or by me. So - but my point is that if the agency had such a covert action program, it would be done wholly consistent with U.S. law.
And so when people say that the CIA tortured, I take issue with that as well because when CIA carries out these covert action programs, it requires a presidential finding. It requires the highest legal body in the executive branch, which is the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice, to determine that that program is lawful. And so when CIA officers are accused of killing or torturing or stealing, all these things that violate U.S. law, I push back hard.
So if there are some CIA officers who like that tag line of we steal secrets, fine. Let them have it. But my point is if CIA ever violates the law, they should be held to account for it, and the people who do that should be held to account.
KELLY: John Brennan, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, thank you.
BRENNAN: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BRENNAN: We don't steal secrets. We - everything we do is consistent with U.S. law. We uncover. We discover. We reveal. We obtain. We elicit. We solicit - all of that.
KELLY: John Brennan, I will tell you that aired on NPR, and my phone started ringing off the hook with CIA veterans calling, saying, what? Stealing secrets is the whole point of the CIA.
BRENNAN: Yeah. I remember that interview quite well because there were a lot of people who took issue with it. And I have been rather frustrated over the years by people claiming that the intelligence community - CIA, NSA and other things - break the law. And I was making the point that everything that CIA and NSA does is consistent with the law. And so when we go out and collect intelligence overseas, it may be breaking the laws of other countries because we're engaged in espionage, but it's wholly consistent with U.S. law.
KELLY: So in other countries, does the CIA steal secrets?
BRENNAN: (Laughter) Sure. Yes, they do in other countries. But again, stealing is not what we do here in the United States, you know, because people were, you know, concerned about what we're doing vis a vis American citizens and on U.S. soil. The CIA's been accused and the intelligence community has been accused of killing people as well. We don't kill. And so I was trying to make the point that we don't break the law.
KELLY: The CIA has carried out targeted assassinations in its history. It's carried out drone strikes that have killed people.
BRENNAN: There's never been an acknowledgement of that at all, absolutely not.
KELLY: You're denying it.
BRENNAN: I'm saying that, well, if there were such a program, it would be a covert action program, and it would be something that wouldn't be acknowledged by the agency or by me. So - but my point is that if the agency had such a covert action program, it would be done wholly consistent with U.S. law.
And so when people say that the CIA tortured, I take issue with that as well because when CIA carries out these covert action programs, it requires a presidential finding. It requires the highest legal body in the executive branch, which is the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice, to determine that that program is lawful. And so when CIA officers are accused of killing or torturing or stealing, all these things that violate U.S. law, I push back hard.
So if there are some CIA officers who like that tag line of we steal secrets, fine. Let them have it. But my point is if CIA ever violates the law, they should be held to account for it, and the people who do that should be held to account.
KELLY: John Brennan, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, thank you.
BRENNAN: Thank you.