They're At It Again

Nearly without exception, if two semi-informed individuals (or totally ignorant individuals for that matter) were to have a discussion on world affairs, deep in the vaults of the CIA someone could find a Top Secret Code Word cable with the same information. Such, in part, was the basis of the Government's case in the AIPAC trial that never was. Well, it appears that they are at it again.

In response to a suit filed by the ACLU, after agreeing three times to release an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report on the CIA's interrogation and detention program and then reneging, the Government announced last week that it will not release a reprocessed version of the report before August 31. The CIA had agreed to release the OIG report by June 19, 2009. It then requested two extensions – to June 26 and then July 1. What is particularly amazing is the CIA's rationale for reneging.

The CIA now claims that prioritizing release of the IG report is “simply untenable.” They go on to say that the only practicable approach is to first complete the review of the 318 other documents remanded by the court for further review since the IG Report touches upon the information contained in virtually all of them. Otherwise, the CIA is concerned that they run the risk of “inconsistency” in the application of FOIA exemptions.

The CIA is attempting to turn the entire review process upside down. Any decisions to withhold information in the IG Report must be made on the substance of the information contained in that report – not the substance of information contained in possibly more detailed source documents for the IG Report. A logical review starts with the general and works down to the specific – not the other way around. What the CIA is attempting to do is clear. Rather than allowing a perfectly appropriate release of information in the IG Report make for a more informed review of the detailed source documents, they instead want what may be entirely appropriate withholdings of information in the more detailed documents to serve as the basis for withholding what should be otherwise releasable information in the IG Report.

The CIA is clearly applying “enhanced review techniques” to the release of a report that the entire American citizenry is entitled to see and to see now.