John Kiriakou

Feds Charge Former CIA Agent John Kiriakou For Illegal Leaks

Ryan J. Reilly | January 23, 2012, 12:50PM

Updated: Jan. 23, 3:20PM

"Heavens no."

That's what John Kiriakou, the former CIA officer who defended waterboarding as an effective technique used against al-Qaeda suspects, allegedly told an FBI agent when asked if he had anything to do with a story which disclosed the name of a CIA agent involved in the interrogation of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

But according to emails cited by an FBI agent in documents charging Kiriakou with repeatedly disclosing classified information (including the name of a covert CIA officer) to journalists, that wasn't quite the case.

A DOJ investigation led by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald started after Guantanamo detainees were found to have photos of CIA personnel in their possession, information which hadn't been provided by the government through any officials channels. The defense teams who provided photos of CIA personnel to Guantanamo Bay detainees did not commit any criminal violations, the investigation found. Instead, the feds say that Kiriakou, who has worked as a paid consultant for ABC News and previously worked for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, gave classified information to journalists, some of which ended up going to defense attorneys for the Guantanamo detainees.

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Ronald Reagan

Watch The Videos The CIA Made To Tell Ronald Reagan About The Soviets

Ryan J. Reilly | November 10, 2011, 12:17PM

The Central Intelligence Agency's video squad made short documentary-style films to educate President Ronald Reagan about the Soviet Union. Now you can watch them for yourself.

Seven videos the CIA made for Reagan -- "The Soviet Space Program," "Afghanistan: the Gallant Struggle," "Andropov Succession," "Soviet Internal Propaganda," "The Soviet Media's Portrayal of America," "The Chernobyl Accident," and "The Moscow Summit" -- were posted on YouTube by the CIA last week in conjunction with a report on Reagan's use of intelligence during his presidency.

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Raymond Davis

CIA Operative, Who Caused International Crisis After Killings, Arrested After Argument Over Parking Spot

David Taintor | October 3, 2011, 12:09PM

Raymond Davis

For a CIA operative, Raymond Davis sure has trouble keeping a low profile.

Earlier this year Davis sparked a diplomatic standoff after shooting two men dead on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan.

Now Davis -- who was freed in March after two months in Pakistani custody only after a deal was reached to pay $2.34 million in 'blood money' to the victims' families -- on Saturday was arrested after a scuffle outside an Einstein Bagels south of Denver, the Associated Press reports.

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Osama bin Laden

Obama Admin: Osama Bin Laden Photos Must Remain Private To Protect National Security

David Taintor | September 28, 2011, 4:55PM

Osama Bin Laden

In the "interest of national security," the Obama administration this week said pictures of a deceased Osama bin Laden must not be released.

To release the images, the U.S. government said late Monday, could "inflame anti-American sentiments and provoke violent attacks on the United States or its citizens abroad."

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NYPD

Secret NYPD Program Reportedly Surveilled Americans Based On Ethnicity

Jillian Rayfield | September 22, 2011, 1:33PM

A secret program in the NYPD surveilled and documented the day-to-day lives American citizens in Moroccan communities, the Associated Press reports.

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CIA

CIA Probing Ties To NYPD's 'Mosque Crawlers' Investigations

Jillian Rayfield | September 13, 2011, 2:00PM

The CIA has launched an internal investigation into whether the agency broke any laws by closely cooperating with the NYPD's antiterrorism operations in Muslim communities after September 11.

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Counterterrorism

CIA Helped NYPD 'Mosque Crawlers' Investigate Muslim Communities

Ryan J. Reilly | August 24, 2011, 11:15AM

The New York Police Department, with help from the CIA, is running antiterrorism operations outside of their jurisdiction that target ethnic communities in a way the federal government can't, Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo report for the Associated Press.

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Eric Holder

Eric Holder Announces Full DOJ Investigation Into Deaths Of Two Individuals In CIA Custody

Ryan J. Reilly | June 30, 2011, 1:52PM

President George Bush and Attorney Gen. Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department is conducting a full investigation into the deaths of two individuals in CIA custody during the Bush administration.

Holder said that special prosecutor John Durham, who is leading the inquiry, reviewed a "tremendous volume of information pertaining to the detainees" that included "both information and matters that had never previously been examined by the Department."

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James Risen

NYT Reporter Seeks To Quash Subpoena; Says Gov't Tried To Intimidate Him

Ryan J. Reilly | June 22, 2011, 12:10PM

James Risen, the award-winning national security reporter for the New York Times who has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors to testify in a case against a CIA whistleblower, accused the government of attempting to intimidate him and his sources in an affidavit he filed to quash the subpoena.

"I take very seriously my obligations as a journalist when reporting about matters that may be classified or may implicate national security concerns," Risen wrote. "I do not always publish all information that I have, even if it is newsworthy and true. If I believe that the publication of the information would cause real harm to our national security, I will not publish a piece."

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Juan Cole

Professor Wants Investigation After Ex-Spy Says Bush White House Wanted To 'Get' Him

Eric Lach | June 16, 2011, 10:26AM

Juan Cole, a University of Michigan professor and influential blogger, has called on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees to investigate allegations raised in a New York Times story, that the Bush White House asked intelligence officials on at least two occasions to gather information on Cole that might discredit him.

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CIA

Feds Calling Witnesses Before Secret Grand Jury Probing CIA Abuses

Ryan J. Reilly | June 14, 2011, 5:45AM

The seal of the U.S. C.I.A. inlaid in the floor of the Original Headquarters Building

Federal prosecutor John Durham has begun calling witnesses to testify before a secret grand jury probing the 2003 death of a man in CIA custody and other abuses at the agency, Adam Zagorin reported for Time.

A subpoena signed by Durham obtained by the publication indicates that "the grand jury is conducting an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal laws involving War Crimes (18 USC/2441), Torture (18 USC 243OA) and related federal offenses."

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Justice Department

Obama Justice Department Subpoenas New York Times Reporter In CIA Leak Case

Ryan J. Reilly | May 24, 2011, 11:25AM

The Obama administration's Justice Department has taken the extraordinary step of subpoenaing a journalist in a leak case against a former CIA operative.

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Osama bin Laden

Al Qaeda 'Confirms' Osama Bin Laden's Death

Eric Lach | May 6, 2011, 9:02AM

Al Qaeda's leadership has issued a statement confirming the death of Osama bin Laden, the Associated Press reports.

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CIA

Was Raymond Davis Bailed Out By Sharia Law?

Eric Lach | March 16, 2011, 9:58AM

Raymond Davis

The diplomatic standoff over CIA contractor Raymond Davis ended on Wednesday, after a Pakistani court acquitted and released Davis, who had been held for almost 2 months after shooting two men dead on the streets of Lahore. But the resolution came only after a deal was reached to pay the victims' families what the Punjab Law Minister called "blood money" -- in accordance with Islamic law.

In other words, Davis may have been bailed out by sharia.

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Raymond Davis

Pakistan Court Acquits CIA Contractor In Double Murder Case

Eric Lach | March 16, 2011, 8:49AM

Raymond Davis

The CIA contractor arrested in January after shooting two men dead on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, has been released, Reuters reports. Raymond Davis was indicted earlier Tuesday on murder charges, but was then acquitted and released following an agreement that had been reached to pay the victims' families.

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Raymond Davis

NYT Explains Why It Held Back Reporting On CIA Contractor

Eric Lach | February 28, 2011, 9:49AM

Raymond Davis

New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane wrote a column this weekend probing the paper's decision to withhold information about Raymond Davis, the American man who was arrested in Pakistan in January after shooting two men dead on the streets of Lahore.

Last week, the Times and other news outlets revealed that, after a request by the Obama administration, they had held back reporting that Davis was a contractor working for the CIA.

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Raymond Davis

U.S. Officials Admit American Arrested In Pakistan Worked With CIA

Eric Lach | February 21, 2011, 1:40PM

Raymond Davis

American government officials now say that Raymond Davis, the American man arrested in Pakistan last month after shooting two men dead in Lahore, was part of a covert, C.I.A.-led team of operatives, according to The New York Times.

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Bahrain

Does The Administration Have A Bahrain Problem?

Eric Lach | February 16, 2011, 3:24PM

The spirit of popular uprising that in a matter of weeks has toppled regimes in Tunisia and Egypt has now spread to several other countries in the region. Iran, Libya and Yemen have all seen protests this week. But the trickiest situation for the American government to react to could be the one in tiny Bahrain.

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Justice Department

DOJ: No Charges In CIA Torture Tape Destruction

Ryan J. Reilly | November 9, 2010, 12:37PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

Federal prosecutors will not file criminal charges against anyone for destroying CIA videotapes that depicted the harsh interrogation of terrorism detainees during the Bush administration, the Justice Department confirmed on Tuesday.

A Justice Department spokesman said in a statement that after an "exhaustive investigation into the matter," a federal prosecutor "has concluded that he will not pursue criminal charges for the destruction of the interrogation videotapes."

The news was first reported by NPR's Carrie Johnson. NPR's report cites two sources close to the investigation who said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham has concluded there is not enough evidence to bring an indictment.

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George Bush

Bush: I Gave The Order To Waterboard

Rachel Slajda | November 4, 2010, 9:38AM

George W. Bush

In his new memoir, former President George W. Bush says he personally gave the order to waterboard Khalid Sheik Mohammed in 2003.

According to the Washington Post, Bush writes that the CIA asked him if they could use the torture technique on Mohammed.

"Damn right," he said.

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Blackwater

Blackwater CEO Shopping Book and Movie Script; Says Obama Administration Approved Operations

Ryan J. Reilly | September 10, 2010, 12:13PM

Hollywood, get ready. Erik Prince -- the chairman of the controversial private security firm formerly known as Blackwater -- is shopping a memoir and has worked on a script that would provide enough material for several movies The Washington Post's Spy Talk Blog reported Friday.

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CIA

Man Who Allegedly Threatened Detainee With Gun, Drill Back On Government Payroll

Ryan J. Reilly | September 8, 2010, 10:08AM

An ex-CIA official named Albert who ran a drill near the head of a terrorism suspect and threatened him with a gun during an interrogation is back on the government payroll as a contractor, and had even trained other CIA operatives, the Associated Press reports.

A review by the CIA inspector general said that the 60-year-old man named Albert, whose last name is being withheld at the request of the government, used unauthorized interrogation techniques against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a USS Cole bombing plotter, at a secret CIA prison in Poland in late 2002 and early 2003.

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Blackwater

NYT: Blackwater's Shell Companies Won Millions In Secret Contracts

Rachel Slajda | September 6, 2010, 12:29PM

A Blackwater employee

According to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Blackwater has created 31 shell companies in order to win military and CIA contracts without revealing its notorious name.

Chairman Carl Levin released a chart of the subsidiaries to the New York Times last week. According to the Times, at least three of the companies have been awarded secret contracts. One official said Blackwater, now called Xe Services, and its subsidiaries have been paid $600 million in classified government deals since 2001.

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Afghanistan

CIA Afghanistan Station Chief 'Spider' Is Karzai's Favorite American

Ryan J. Reilly | August 24, 2010, 12:06PM

Afghan President Hamid Karzai

The head of the Central Intelligence Agency's Afghanistan Bureau has taken on a quasi-diplomatic role in U.S. relations with President Hamid Karzai in the midst of an American-backed effort to root out corruption in the fledgling democracy.

Known to some of his colleagues by the nickname "Spider," the station chief is a former Marine in his 50s, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Their relationship was cemented in December 2001, when the U.S. military accidentally ordered a bomb drop on a meeting between Karzai and other tribal leaders, and "Spider" leapt on Karzai to shield him, saving the soon-to-be Afghan president. Now, "Spider" is brought in at critical times, including in May when the White House tapped him to calm the Afghan president after he lashed out at the U.S.

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CIA Tapes

Tapes Of Secret CIA Interrogations Of 9/11 Plotter Ramzi Binalshibh Discovered

Ryan J. Reilly | August 17, 2010, 10:10AM

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay

Not all of the CIA torture tapes were destroyed as the CIA has claimed, according to a new Associated Press report. In fact, the agency is in possession of two videotapes and one audio tape that it discovered under a desk back in 2007.

Several current and former U.S. officials speaking on the condition of anonymity told the AP that the tapes depict Binalshibh's interrogation sessions at the hand of the CIA at a Moroccan-run facility the agency used near Rabat in 2002.

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Andrew Warren

Ex-CIA Agent Pleading Guilty To Sex And Drug Charges

Ben Frumin | June 4, 2010, 1:08PM

The seal of the U.S. C.I.A. inlaid in the floor of the Original Headquarters Building

Former CIA Agent Andrew Warren, who reportedly broke down in an epic unraveling in Virginia in April, will plead guilty in a case involving claims that he had sex in 2008 with a drugged woman in Algeria, where he was CIA station chief.

"Warren will plead guilty to one count of sexual abuse and one count of being in possession of a firearm while using illegal drugs," Politico reports.

The sex charge is related to the Algeria case -- while the weapons charge is related to an incident this spring when Warren allegedly exposed himself to a woman, lied about his name and social security number when confronted by police about it, and said he had a "Glock service weapon" (that he refused to show police). Weeks later, Warren was on the run, until police allegedly found him at a motel with a loaded Glock and drug paraphernalia.

Obama Administration

Report: Obama Admin Shifted War Crime Rules To Protect CIA Drone Operators

Justin Elliott | May 31, 2010, 9:03AM

President Barack Obama

The Obama Administration delayed and ultimately changed the language in its revision of the military commissions manual because Bush-era language left open the interpretation that CIA drone operators would be considered war criminals, according to the New York Times.

The nugget was buried in a Friday article that hasn't gotten much attention. But it's notable as a sign of how sensitive the administration is about the legality of the CIA drone program in Pakistan.

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Andrew Warren

Fed Court Filing: How An Armed, Drugged-Up CIA Agent Fell Apart

Ben Frumin | May 7, 2010, 10:16AM

The seal of the U.S. C.I.A. inlaid in the floor of the Original Headquarters Building

CIA Agent Andrew Warren was already on probation on charges that he had sex with a drugged woman in Algeria, where he was serving as CIA station chief, before breaking down in Virginia last month in what sounds like an epic unraveling.

According to a new federal court filing, Warren allegedly exposed himself to a woman, lied about his name and social security number when confronted by police about it, and said he had a "Glock service weapon" (that he refused to show police). And then, during a conversation with police at his home on April 3:

Warren then proceeded to show the officer a disguise kit and said that he could use it to hide from anyone because he had been trained by the CIA. Warren told the officer that he had been trained in the martial arts, all types of weapons and spoke eight Arabic languages. During this communication, the officer reported that Warren took down the officers' names and unit numbers and stated words to the effect of "it will be different the next time I meet with you".

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CIA Tapes

Docs Show Goss May Have Agreed With Destruction Of Interrogation Tapes

Zachary Roth | April 16, 2010, 10:13AM

Former CIA Director Porter Goss

Porter Goss, then the head of the CIA, said at the time that he agreed, after the fact, with the agency's 2005 decision to destroy videotapes showing brutal interrogations -- and even joked wryly about the issue, new documents released yesterday by the CIA suggest.

Goss told Jose Rodriguez, then the head of the CIA's clandestine service and the official who ordered the destruction of the tapes, that he "agreed" with the move, according to a CIA email message, reports the New York Times. "PG laughed and said that actually, it would be he, PG, who would take the heat."

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Guantanamo

ACLU Denies Lawbreaking In Case Of Photographed CIA Officers

Justin Elliott | March 23, 2010, 11:00AM

Detainees at Guantanamo and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

In a case that has all the ingredients to explode into a national controversy, Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed star prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate whether laws were broken after "paparazzi style" photographs of CIA officers were found in the cell of a Guantanamo inmate accused of financing the 9/11 attacks, Newsweek is reporting.

In an interview with TPMmuckraker, the top official for the ACLU project that provided assistance for the defense of the detainee in question -- and hired private investigators to take the photos of CIA officers thought to be involved in torture -- said that no laws had been broken.

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Marc Thiessen

Thiessen Mourns Loss Of CIA Torture Program -- O'Donnell Having None Of It (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | February 12, 2010, 9:51AM

On MSNBC this morning, former Rumsfeld and Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen went after President Obama for barring torture by the CIA in his first week in office, only to be rebuffed by an animated Lawrence O'Donnell on the Bush Administration's terrorism record.

"Barack Obama has eliminated the CIA's interrogation program, which is the single most successful and importance intelligence program we have in the war on terror and possibly in the history of the CIA," Thiessen said.

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Torture

CIA Man Who Claimed Waterboarding Worked Admits He Was Wrong

Rachel Slajda | January 27, 2010, 9:33AM

In his new book, the former CIA operative who made the bombshell -- and thoroughly debunked -- claim that a terrorism suspect was made to talk after one waterboarding session has admitted he was wrong.

John Kiriakou made waves, and supplied the pro-torture crowd with ammunition, when he told ABC News in December 2007 that al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah gave information that prevented dozens of terrorist attacks after being waterboarded once, for about 30 seconds.

The claim was full of holes, and ABC admitted so, quietly. For one, Zubadayah was actually waterboarded at least 83 times, according to a Justice Department memo. And Kiriakou, the head of the man's capture team, was not present for his interrogation and instead relied on reports.

Kiriakou admits he was wrong on the second-to-last page of his new book, titled "The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror," according to Foreign Policy.

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Bush Administration

Maddow On 'The Incredible Magic Al Jazeera Scam' (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | December 22, 2009, 10:50AM

Rachel Maddow last night interviewed journalist Aram Roston about the finer points of the revelation, published in Playboy, that a December 2003 Orange terror alert was prompted by supposed decoding technology that revealed terrorist communications in Al Jazeera broadcasts.

Maddow plays some remarkable media reports from 2003, complete with scare quotes from Tom Ridge about catastrophic attacks "against the homeland."

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War In Afghanistan

Blackwater, Already On The Ground In Afghanistan, Now Gunning For More Contracts

Justin Elliott | December 21, 2009, 12:23PM

A Blackwater Aviation crew member prepares to drop supplies to an outpost in Bandar, Afghanistan, in 2007.

It looks like the Obama Administration just can't quit the company formerly known as Blackwater.

A Xe official told the Commission on Wartime Contracting Friday that the company has contracts for security as well as for training Afghan police and a "drug interdiction unit." Xe is also in the running for more work in Afghanistan. The comments of Xe Vice President Fred Roitz were first reported by the Virginia Pilot.

It's been a difficult year for Xe, with several former guards facing manslaughter charges over the shootings in Baghdad's Nisour Square that left 17 civilians dead, and company founder Erik Prince declaring he plans to leave the business.

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Blackwater

Blackwater's Prince Blames Dems For CIA Leak, Says He'll Become School Teacher

Justin Elliott | December 2, 2009, 5:52PM

Worth a read this evening is Vanity Fair's new 6,000-word profile of Blackwater Xe chief Erik Prince, which comes complete with man-of-action photo spread and a shot of a Blackwater facility near the Pakistani border.

Perhaps the biggest revelation in the story, written with Prince's full cooperation, are the unprecedented levels of collaboration between Prince and the CIA -- to the point, according to Vanity Fair, that he was "a full-blown asset."

It's worth noting that the author of the piece, Adam Ciralsky, was himself a lawyer for the CIA before leaving in the 1990s amid a controversy about allegations he was wrongly suspended on suspicions of unauthorized contact with Israel.

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CIA Tapes

New Docs Shed Light On White House Role In CIA Tape Destruction

Zachary Roth | December 2, 2009, 9:20AM

Bush White House officials met with top CIA honchos to discuss the agency's torture tapes that later were destroyed, according to new documents obtained recently by the ACLU.

An email from February 22, 2003 reveals that the meeting was called to discuss how the CIA should respond to a letter from Rep. Jane Harman advising the agency not to destroy the tapes. The White House's participation in discussions of the issue of the tapes was previously known. But the February 2003 email is the earliest known record of the White House's participation.

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Pete Hoekstra

Lacking Evidence, Hoekstra Blames Obama Admin. For Fort Hood

Zachary Roth | November 17, 2009, 6:12PM

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is ramping up his campaign to use the Fort Hood shootings to paint the Obama administration as soft on terrorism.

At a press conference today, where he was joined by several GOP colleagues, Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence committee, called for an immediate congressional investigation into the shootings, to determine whether the intelligence community needs enhanced tools to combat terror. Hoekstra and his colleagues also suggested, without citing evidence, that the administration had restricted the use of crucial terror-fighting tools that could have been used to stop the attacks.

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Fort Hood Shootings

Rep. Hoekstra Accuses Obama Admin Of Withholding Information On Hasan -- Sort Of

Justin Elliott | November 9, 2009, 2:43PM

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and CIA Director Leon Panetta

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is blasting President Obama for withholding from the Congressional intelligence committees information on the Fort Hood killings suspect, while at the same time acknowledging the leaders of those panels -- including Hoekstra himself -- have indeed been briefed on Nidal Malik Hasan.

"President Obama said people should not jump to conclusions about what happened at Fort Hood, but the administration is in possession of critical information related to the attack that they are refusing to release to Congress or the American people," Hoekstra said in a statement.

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Nidal Malik Hasan

CIA Calls ABC Report That It Refused To Brief Congress On Fort Hood Suspect Bogus

Justin Elliott | November 9, 2009, 10:20AM

Major Nidal Malik Hasan

The CIA is denying an ABC News report that the agency has refused to brief Congress on any knowledge it has about Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army major suspected in the shootings at Fort Hood last week.

"This is a law enforcement investigation, in which other agencies -- not the CIA -- have the lead. Any suggestion that the CIA refused to brief Congress is flat wrong," CIA spokesman George Little tells TPMmuckraker in a statement.

ABC's Richard Esposito, Matthew Cole, and Brian Ross quoted an anonymous senior lawmaker as saying "the CIA had, so far, refused to brief the intelligence committees on what, if any, knowledge they had about Hasan's efforts."

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Dick Cheney

Did Cheney Deceive FBI On Instructions To Libby?

Zachary Roth | November 2, 2009, 5:33PM

Former Vice President Dick Cheney

Most reactions to the release of Dick Cheney's 2004 interview with FBI investigators on the Valerie Plame affair have focused on the numerous instances in which the then-vice president claimed a faulty memory about events that had occurred less than a year before.

But did Cheney at one point all but lie under oath about whether he directed Lewis Libby to give Judith Miller information from a government report on Saddam's alleged efforts to procure uranium from Africa?

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