CIA Admits Lying to a Judge and then destroys evidence

IN a not so shocking move to me this was posted in the New York Times this morning
a pdf. file of a letter to a federal Judge it was in this New York Times story

In a statement to employees on Thursday, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director, said that the decision to destroy the tapes was made “within the C.I.A.” and that they were destroyed to protect the safety of undercover officers and because they no longer had intelligence value.

The destruction of the tapes raises questions about whether agency officials withheld information from Congress, the courts and the Sept. 11 commission about aspects of the program.

The recordings were not provided to a federal court hearing the case of the terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui or to the Sept. 11 commission, which was appointed by President Bush and Congress, and which had made formal requests to the C.I.A. for transcripts and other documentary evidence taken from interrogations of agency prisoners.

The disclosures about the tapes are likely to reignite the debate over laws that allow the C.I.A. to use interrogation practices more severe than those allowed to other agencies. A Congressional conference committee voted late Wednesday to outlaw those interrogation practices, but the measure has yet to pass the full House and Senate and is likely to face a veto from Mr. Bush.

The New York Times informed the intelligence agency on Wednesday evening that it was preparing to publish an article about the destruction of the tapes. In his statement to employees on Thursday, General Hayden said that the agency had acted “in line with the law” and that he was informing C.I.A. employees “because the press has learned” about the matter.

It is interesting to note that Director Hayden only notified the CIA employees about the tapes and the destruction of them when confronted by the NY Times that they were going public with the story of the destruction of the evidence. Only admit what you have to when you are caught? Is this how the agency runs? Nothing has changed since the days of DR Sidney Gottlieb and the other "super-patriots" run amok in the 50s thru the 70s, it appears it is back to business as usual.

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