CIA misled, lied to Congress several times since 2001, say lawmakers

Jan Schakowsky

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The two Democrats chairing the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have accused the CIA of misleading Congress on at least five instances during the last eight years. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Representatives Jan Schakowsky (CA, photo) and Anna Eshoo (IL.) said an investigation by the Committee had uncovered several examples “where the committee actually has been lied to” by the CIA. The two chairwomen described the investigation findings as “symptom[s] of a larger disease” involving the routine practice of “incomplete and often misleading intelligence briefings”. However, commenting on Schakowsky and Eshoo’s allegations, Robert Litt, the senior attorney in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the conduct of all 16 US intelligence agencies, said Congress was not adequately briefed on “a small number of intelligence activities”, but “has since been brought up to date”. The Congresswomen’s allegations followed closely similar claims made last July by the House Intelligence Committee’s former chairperson, Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), who said he had evidence that the Committee had been routinely “misled […] and […] affirmatively lied to” by the CIA. The ongoing spat between the CIA and the House Intelligence Committee was sparked on June 24, 2009, when CIA director Leon Panetta informed the Committee of his decision to terminate a secret CIA project, which he said the Agency had kept hidden from Congress since 2001.