Comments (17)

bobh wrote on July 13, 2007 2:15 PM:

Thats like Hitler saying he's going to honor Poland's borders. Who'd believe him?

Oh...I forgot, Jake would.

Slim Pickin's wrote on July 13, 2007 2:18 PM:

Whew!

Good. Now I feel much better. We can all go home and crack open a beer, and relax, knowing that there's an invisible, internal "oversight office within DOJ's National Security Division".

Now I can get some sleep and no be scared sh**less that a bunch of pompus, moronic, hillbilly, jesus-freaks are running the government and DOJ.

This secret, unaccountable, internal solution is just what we've all been waiting for.

What was the date for razing Washington DC again?

HipHopLawyer wrote on July 13, 2007 2:37 PM:

Excuse me, but I fail to take any solace in the fact that these people will ensure "compliance with laws, regulations, and guidelines" when these people continually insist that "laws, regulations, and guidelines" mean what they themselves say they mean at any given time, on an ad hoc basis, according to their own whims and motives.

William Ockham wrote on July 13, 2007 2:44 PM:

Whaaaat?
"in a letter to Vice President Dick Cheney and congressional leaders"

What's wrong with this picture?

Dave Bowman wrote on July 13, 2007 2:58 PM:

Sorry, Alberto, your credibility is shot--why should We The People believe you when you've already been caught lying to Congress about this same subject?

fuzz wrote on July 13, 2007 2:59 PM:

It is taught as fact at the US Army Management Staff College that internal investigations will always return the result desired by the official who initiates the investigation.

Not that that's news to anyone who is paying attention, but given that our government teaches this to its own senior staff and given this administration's conduct thus far, it is difficult to believe that this new oversight office is anything except abject treachery designed to strengthen and hide the abuses.

NCBlueneck wrote on July 13, 2007 3:07 PM:

Everybody above beat me to all the good snarky comebacks, oh well...

So, how about this one? It's kind of like Jeffrey Dahmer declaring he's gone vegan.

Equally believable.

dee illuminati wrote on July 13, 2007 3:09 PM:

If the compliance is handled in the same manner as the requirement that the office of the VP handle national security information correctly.

On the other hand, handling the information in an organized and auditable manner can at least provide a basis for assessing damages to US national security if an investigator from the CIA, DIA, Treasury secret service, DOJ, or DOS inadverttantly initiates an investigation into an investigator of another agency where credentialing information was not shared, or where a foreign national intentionally as an act of a foreign nation state uses the institutions with these powers to hinder, harrass, or obstruct in an intentional manner the lawful activities of a US citizen.

Imagine the debacle of the FBI harrasing a political assylum individual granted protection by the CIA or DIA as a retaliatory act of a foreign government, or a rogue element within that government by the FBI?

While it is not too late to put some adults in charge, the abuses that are pre-existing need to be handled with NSL's where the FBI admidts damages made, makes payments of damages, and seals that settlement in accordance with NARA guidlines and an eventual records disposition to unclassified.

see a very brief abstract here:

Vice President Dick Cheney and congressional Democrats are sparring over the vice president's refusal to comply with a 2003 presidential executive order that requires all agencies and the executive branch to protect classified material.

The skirmish is the latest in a long battle between Congress and the Bush White House -- particularly Cheney's office -- over the administration's campaign to expand the powers of the executive branch and increase the amount of information labeled as classified.

In a letter to Cheney on Thursday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., questioned ''both the legality and wisdom'' of the vice president claiming an exemption from the order, noting recent controversies involving members of Cheney's staff and classified information.

Former Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby was convicted in March of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with a federal investigation into the identification, in a leak to the media, of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame.

(what the fvck is this???????)

In May 2006, Leandro Aragoncillo, an aide in the vice president's office, admitted in federal court that he stole classified U.S. intelligence information and passed it on to officials plotting a coup in the Philippines.

http://www.miamiherald.com/509/story/147580.html

mbbsdphil wrote on July 13, 2007 3:20 PM:

Presumably, this letter was directed to Mr. Cheney as president of the Senate and not as head of state.

casual observer wrote on July 13, 2007 3:42 PM:

When you see the report, I'd like to know if the IG made recommendations that these offices be formed up? Or, are these offices an attempt to make IG functions more difficult, or to replace IG function altogether. To trust DOJ or specifically FBI to control themselves regarding NSLs (or anything else, for that matter) is foolhardy.

parrot wrote on July 13, 2007 3:59 PM:

And in the intervening four months a lot was coverd up? I'd say obstruction here should be investigated as well...

whidbeygrl wrote on July 13, 2007 3:59 PM:

Is anyone keeping a list of all the investigations and internally appointed insspectors that Bush. Co. has
created?
Like a black hole, ain't it?

dee illuminati wrote on July 13, 2007 4:00 PM:

casual observer

'oversight office within DOJ's National Security Division'

see my post above.............

ohh to be sure that now the majority of congress voted to limit the war effort.. they are all related to or members of a group opposing the war.....

really there was some major fvck-ups

even if it is just a means to cover-up there at least is an auditable means to survey injection methods and practices and an assesment of damages...

and where applicable the NID should review the findings of an appointed cross-referencing with names ommitted case management database

sec code 'nation' as in it deserves better management than koolaid slogans

nofltwlt wrote on July 13, 2007 6:29 PM:

These guys cannot be trusted. It doesn't matter what they say anymore, they are just trying to by time while the hatch some other hefarious plot.

steambomb wrote on July 13, 2007 9:02 PM:

Anybody believe it? Coming from these peops? ???

steambomb wrote on July 13, 2007 10:21 PM:

The timing of this is in a word, interesting. Given the fact that just two days ago the revelation occurred that we now have documented evidence that Alberto Gonzales lied to congress about this very subject. It is all so juvenile.

Helena Montana wrote on July 14, 2007 7:00 AM:

Giggle, snort.