A new article on FoxNews.com is currently being circulated by conservatives on social media. Bearing the title “Obama’s nominee for Pentagon post implicated in alleged theft of CIA documents”, the real news is that unnamed CIA officials named two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee staff and:
”one senior intelligence official, speaking to Fox News on background, flatly accused the staffers of having ‘stolen’ the [Panetta Review] document”
…
”Intelligence community officials have told Fox News that Starzak and Jones never brought the Panetta Review to CIA officials for potential release.”
As Micah Zenko, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, tweeted:
Senior intel officials leak names of Senate Intel staffers accused of "stealing" Panetta Review. http://t.co/FEfQ7Kx3iO #gettingworse
— Micah Zenko (@MicahZenko) December 24, 2014
To recap, Senate Intelligence Committee member Mark Udall previously accused current senior CIA officials of a cover up:
”While the study clearly shows that the CIA detention and interrogation program itself was deeply flawed, the deeper, more endemic problem lies in the CIA, assisted by a White House that continues to try to cover up the truth.”
When CIA Director John Brennan gave a morning address following Udall’s speech, Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein live-tweeted a fact-checking rebuttal that included a reference to the same report that the unnamed CIA officials accuse Intelligence Committee staffers of stealing:
Former CIA General Counsel Preston says CIA provided inaccurate information. #ReadTheReport
— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) December 11, 2014Internal CIA "Panetta Review" agreed with study’s conclusions. #ReadTheReport
— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) December 11, 2014Today’s Fox News article reflects yet another attempt by the CIA officials to retaliate against the Senate Intelligence Committee for exposing their lies. Their prior initiation of an investigation against the Senate Intelligence Committee staff did not result in any charges. Now, they are trying to sabotage a staff member’s career with misleading innuendo.
The relationship between the CIA and the Senate Intelligence Committee can only be repaired by listening to the advice of outgoing Senate Intelligence Committee member Mark Udall:
”The president needs to purge his administration of high-level officials who were instrumental in the development and running of this [interrogation] program…He needs to force a cultural change at the CIA.”