Posted on 06/20/2006 5:07:35 PM PDT by Para-Ord.45
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich, told NewsMax that he believes the recent leaks over the CIA's secret prisons and the NSA's terrorist surveillance program were "politically driven," and that the leakers "ought to be prosecuted."
"What we are seeing is a systematic breakdown in the intelligence community when it comes to leaking highly classified intelligence information," he stated.
If intelligence officers have concerns about a particular program, they have various legal avenues to make those concerns known, he said.
"First, there's an inspector general," he noted. "Then there's a House intelligence committee, and a Senate intelligence committee. If you have questions about the legality of some program or some action, that's where you go to make sure what's being done is legal and within the law."
An Intelligence officer who goes to the press with grievances and leaks classified information is "no better than a common thief," he said.
"Nobody's given you the authorization to determine what information should be made freely available to the public. Nobody's given you the authorization to determine what should or should not be classified, or to make those decisions for the American people," Hoekstra said.
Hoekstra applauded former CIA Director Porter Goss for having identified a CIA official for making unauthorized disclosures of highly classified intelligence information to the media.
The Deputy CIA inspector general, Mary McCarthy, who was fired on April 21, 2006, 10 days short of retirement, was identified in the media as having leaked information on the CIA secret prisons to Washington Post reporter Dana Priest
McCarthy denied through her lawyer ever meeting with Priest, but has acknowledged she was fired before her retirement.
For Hoekstra, McCarthy's firing was symbolic, and went way beyond whatever specific offense she may or may not have committed.
"Mary McCarthy clearly represented the entrenched bureaucracy at CIA," he said. "She wasn't the only one, not by a long shot."...(excerpt)
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/6/20/121538.shtml?s=lh
I thought they were being prosecuted. Now I want to why they have not been prosecuted!
You are correct on all points except for venting some of your anger at Rep. Hoekstra above. He's doing the right thing. He's one of the good guys.
It's the traitors who deserve our ire.
My question is .. what took them so dang long to finally figure it out
We FReepers have known for years
bttt
"An Intelligence officer who goes to the press with grievances and leaks classified information is "no better than a common thief,"
Actually, Hoekstra is too kind; when classified information is leaked from the CIA the person can be enabling murder of 'assets,' foreign and domestic.
My guess, the trail leads right to the DNC.
Now, let's correlate addresses in those files ~ who are your neighbors? Are they like Valerie Plame's neighbors ~ in on the ruse?
The more I think about it the more I see a professional black-bag job at work.
Don't the folks in the CIA's IG shop have access to personnel folders?
McCarthy worked in the IG's office. She left friends behind. Maybe Porter Goss didn't set McCarthy up, but someone in DOD did.
This could go the other way as well.
LOL!
You are granting the "CIA" more IQ points than they actually deserve, in toto.
As are their internal coup planners, in overestimating their own capabilities.
In their futile, and frankly lame attempt, to recruit me in 1980 something...they seemed to think I would be impressed by some bumbling operative tracking me down at a local fishing hole to make his pitch, out of the trunk of his car.
As if!
I distinctly remember that I did NOT brandish any weapons against him, and since I was easably able to re-enlist, after a short break in USAF service, apparently the CIA has no record of me brandishing any weapons, either...
No doubt they are going outside for a contractor to figure out how to match the records.
It's almost like Hoekstra has turned on a dime and now he's bragging about getting stories from "whistleblowers".
So, what's going on? Did the CIA professional staff who've been trying to bring down the government get to the Committee Chairman with blackmail, or what?
You'll notice that so far, today, no thread has been added that includes "Hoekstra" in the title or as one of the keywords.
Could our Freepers who keep track of this stuff have "slipped up", or is our gatekeeper in on the deal?
Worth checking out doncha think?
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