Leon Panetta

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US: Terror Team Already Inside Europe

Plot for Mumbai-style attack still active, officials say

(Newser) - European counterterrorism officials say they have intelligence that strongly suggests that a team of Islamic extremists is planning a Mumbai-style shooting spree in a European city center—but they have no idea which one. Drone attacks in Pakistan earlier this week were aimed at foiling the plot, but US officials...

Who Will Replace Daley and 'Mayor Rahm'?

Chicago race (and DC race) wide open

(Newser) - Richard Daley’s retirement has set off wild speculation in Chicago about who'll replace him, and in Washington about who’ll replace would-be mayor Rahm Emanuel. DC insiders are positive Rahm will run, according to the Hill , but he’ll have competition. “It’s the wild, wild West,”...

Spy Swap Talks Started Weeks Before Arrests

Agents' kids sent to Russia or planning to go

(Newser) - The 14-person spy swap executed today at an airport in Vienna grew out of talks that started in June—weeks before the Russian spies living in the US were arrested—and the White House knew about the sleeper agents in February, reports the Washington Post . Meanwhile, the Russian agents' kids...

CIA: We Have No Idea Where Bin Laden Is

Panetta says agency hasn't had intelligence on him in years

(Newser) - Don’t expect the CIA to catch Osama bin Laden any time soon; Leon Panetta yesterday admitted that his agency hasn’t had any precise intelligence on bin Laden’s whereabouts since “the early 2000s.” The agency believes he’s in Pakistan’s tribal region, but “he...

CIA Boss Defends $100M Blackwater Contract

'We need the security,' says Panetta

(Newser) - Despite criminal charges against former Blackwater security guards, CIA chief Leon Panetta has passionately defended a new $100 million contract with the controversial company. "We've got to have security," Panetta tells ABC News . “Unfortunately, there are a few companies that provide that kind of security. The State...

Al-Qaeda to Osama bin Laden: Please Save Us

We've got them reeling, says CIA chief Leon Panetta

(Newser) - The US assault on al-Qaeda has crippled the group so severely that one lieutenant has pleaded with Osama bin Laden to step in and provide leadership, says CIA chief Leon Panetta. In an interview with the Washington Post , Panetta says the US strikes in Pakistan have driven bin Laden and...

Biggest US Error Was to Miss Yemen Threat
Biggest US Error Was to Miss Yemen Threat
MARC AMBINDER
Jan 8, 2010 7:21 AM CST

Biggest US Error Was to Miss Yemen Threat

Seems we didn't know they were capable of launching terrorists

(Newser) - In all the news yesterday about US intelligence lapses, one "startling concession" stands out to Marc Ambinder: Security chief John Brennan admitted that the US didn't realize al-Qaeda's organization in Yemen—al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula—had "progressed to the point of actually launching individuals here." As...

Subplots to Watch at Obama's Terror Meeting

How tough will the president be on himself and his staff?

(Newser) - President Obama meets with his security chiefs today to dissect the failed Christmas terror plot—and deflect criticism over his initial, tepid response. Politico breaks down the burning questions:
  • Do heads roll? Janet Napolitano and Michael Leiter have both been mentioned as possible sacrifices, but insiders increasingly doubt that Obama’
...

CIA Base Chief Among 7 Killed in Afghan Blast

Suicide bomber may have been invited as potential informant

(Newser) - Among the seven CIA employees and contractors killed in yesterday's suicide bombing in Afghanistan was the agency's chief officer at the post. One former intelligence official called the attack "devastating" to the CIA's operations in the country. "There was some tremendous talent lost," the official tells the...

CIA Terminates Blackwater Deal
 CIA Terminates Blackwater Deal 
Dec 11, 2009 9:37 PM CST

CIA Terminates Blackwater Deal

Security firm helped load killer drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan

(Newser) - The Central Intelligence Agency has severed ties with private security firm Blackwater, whose employees helped load the drone aircraft tasked with killing targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. CIA chief Leon Panetta killed the contract, a rep tells the New York Times , which was instrumental in revealing the firm’s ties...

Blackwater Founder: CIA 'Threw Me Under the Bus'

Erik Prince's story raises security issues

(Newser) - Erik Prince says he and Blackwater—the defense contractor now known as Xe—got a raw deal from the government. "I put myself and my company at the CIA's disposal for some very risky missions," the firm's founder tells Vanity Fair . "But when it became politically expedient...

CIA Knew of 'Secret' Iran Facility: Panetta

Once agency was certain this spring, Obama kept info as leverage for talks

(Newser) - The CIA knew about Iran's recently revealed uranium-enrichment facility and had been collecting intelligence on it since 2006. The US, the UK, and France had been on the lookout for a new secret plant since the 2002 revelation of the Natanz facility. When intelligence and covert operations uncovered a new...

CIA Will Cover Legal Bills for Officers in Inquiry

(Newser) - Leon Panetta couldn't stop the Justice Department's widening inquiry into the CIA's interrogation policies, but the agency's director can make sure his employees don't go broke paying legal fees. The agency will see to it that case officers caught up in the investigation have representation, the Washington Post reports. Most...

In Obama White House, Justice Trumps CIA
 In Obama White House, Justice Trumps CIA 
ANALYSIS
Aug 28, 2009 7:40 AM CDT

In Obama White House, Justice Trumps CIA

Eric Holder carves a new, powerful role as attorney general

(Newser) - The appointment of a federal prosecutor to investigate CIA interrogations exposed a long-running turf war between the intelligence agency and the Department of Justice—and demonstrated the substantial clout of AG Eric Holder, who prevailed in almost every dispute with CIA Director Leon Panetta. The New York Times and Washington ...

Holder Launches Probe Into CIA Torture Allegations

(Newser) - AG Eric Holder today named a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture against CIA operatives who interrogated terror suspects during the Bush administration, the Washington Post reports. John Durham, who is currently probing the destruction of interrogation tapes, will look into fewer than 12 cases detailed in a CIA...

CIA Hired Blackwater to Help Plan al-Qaeda Killings

(Newser) - We knew the US outsourced a lot of its work in Iraq to Blackwater, but this takes the cake: The CIA hired the infamous military contractor in 2004 to help it figure out how to track down and kill al-Qaeda operatives, reports the New York Times. The move to hire...

Panetta to Congress: Let Go of the Past
Panetta to Congress: Let Go of the Past
OPINION
Aug 2, 2009 12:47 PM CDT

Panetta to Congress: Let Go of the Past

Fighting over defunct Bush-era programs only hurt CIA, chief says

(Newser) - It's time for the toxic air of recriminations and mistrust in Washington about the CIA’s post-9/11 intelligence programs to blow over, Leon Panetta writes today in the Washington Post. “I've become increasingly concerned that the focus on the past, especially in Congress, threatens to distract the CIA from...

Judge: CIA Used Fraud to Get Wiretap Case Dismissed

Orders Tenet to explain misleading actions on wiretap suit

(Newser) - US District Judge Royce Lamberth released hundreds of secret filings yesterday, saying the CIA falsely claimed that state secrets were involved in a 15-year-old wiretapping lawsuit, McClatchy reports. The agency allowed the judge to continue believing that an agent involved in the case was undercover, when in reality that cover...

House Will Probe Possible CIA Lies

Panel Republicans decry inquiry as partisan politics

(Newser) - The House Intelligence Committee will investigate whether the CIA lied to Congress and violated the National Security Act, the Hill reports. The probe stems from claims by new CIA chief Leon Panetta and Rep. Nancy Pelosi that the agency regularly misled Congress.

CIA Assassination Scheme No Big Deal In-House

(Newser) - Not only was the CIA's “targeted killing” program an “open secret,” but there's also “less to it than meets the eye,” Robert Baer writes for Time. The former intelligence officer notes that the Washington Post broke the story in 2001, and a New York Times...

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