Station Chief Made Appeal To Destroy CIA Tapes

[sabra]

Source: WP

Lawyer Says Top Official Had Implicit Approval

In late 2005, the retiring CIA station chief in Bangkok sent a classified cable to his superiors in Langley asking if he could destroy videotapes recorded at a secret CIA prison in Thailand that in part portrayed intelligence officers using simulated drowning to extract information from suspected al-Qaeda members.

The tapes had been sitting in the station chief's safe, in the U.S. Embassy compound, for nearly three years. Although those involved in the interrogations had pushed for the tapes' destruction in those years and a secret debate about it had twice reached the White House, CIA officials had not acted on those requests. This time was different.

The CIA had a new director and an acting general counsel, neither of whom sought to block the destruction of the tapes, according to agency officials. The station chief was insistent because he was retiring and wanted to resolve the matter before he left, the officials said. And in November 2005, a published report that detailed a secret CIA prison system provoked an international outcry.

Those three circumstances pushed the CIA's then-director of clandestine operations, Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., to act against the earlier advice of at least five senior CIA and White House officials, who had counseled the agency since 2003 that the tapes should be preserved. Rodriguez consulted CIA lawyers and officials, who told him that he had the legal right to order the destruction. In his view, he received their implicit support to do so, according to his attorney, Robert S. Bennett.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/15/AR2008011504090.html

[stillcool]

1. Bob Bennett...

really gets around, doesn't he?

[L. Coyote]

2. There are three Bob Bennetts, attorney, Senator, and Ohio R big boy.

Attorney Bennett has some very famous cases in his portfolio.

http://www.skadden.com/index.cfm?contentID=45&bioID=1000

Robert S. Bennett, a former federal prosecutor and a member of the defense bar since 1971, is co-leader of Skadden’s international Government Enforcement Litigation group and the Criminal and Civil Litigation practice of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

Mr. Bennett is renowned in his field as an exceptional trial lawyer who has tried numerous high-profile cases and has represented corporations and individuals, including directors and officers, in criminal, civil, SEC enforcement and congressional matters for the past 35 years. Mr. Bennett has been listed repeatedly in various publications as one of the nation’s most influential and successful trial attorneys.

In addition to the representation of Enron, other successful recent corporate representations include HealthSouth in connection with a criminal investigation being conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama. Mr. Bennett was also lead counsel in the KPMG tax shelter investigation conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Bennett successfully represented two former Secretaries of Defense, Clark Clifford (Democrat) and Caspar Weinberger (Republican). His extensive experience includes representing clients before congressional committees; Mr. Bennett has served as Special Counsel to the United States Senate’s Select Committee on Ethics in several major investigations. He was President Clinton’s personal attorney in the Paula Jones case, and, most recently, he represented Judith Miller in the CIA leak investigation. In 1981 and 1982, he served as a legal consultant to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding the appointment of Alexander M. Haig, Jr. as Secretary of State and served as Special Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Ethics.

Mr. Bennett advises management, audit committees and boards of directors on Sarbanes-Oxley matters, and he assists boards and audit committees in conducting internal investigations.

Mr. Bennett has co-chaired several American Bar Association National Institute programs on the defense of corporations and their officers in parallel grand jury and administrative agency investigations. He also has written and lectured extensively on complex criminal and civil matters and crisis management issues.

Mr. Bennett is a judge on the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In 2007, Mr. Bennett was selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, and in 2000 and 2006 was selected by The National Law Journal as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.”

[stillcool]

6. Paul Wolfowitz hired him as well....

..to remain as president of the World Bank. Haven't heard much from brother Bill lately. That's always a good thing.

[L. Coyote]

3. SPIN: "an odd vacuum of specific instructions on a such a politically sensitive matter"

Now that is a classic piece of journalism! However, who believes it?

Someone at the WA POST either does not know what spin is, or is writing it.

[L. Coyote]

4. There seems to be a changing story from CIA in this! Is Bennett representing CIA?

"Since 2002, the CIA wanted to destroy the tapes to protect the identity and lives of its officers and for other counterintelligence reasons,"

[Javaman]

5. quick, down the memory hole! nt

[EFerrari]

7. My bs detector goes off. If he was retiring, he wouldn't want to

destroy the tapes because then he could be fingered.

If he was retiring, he's want to pass on the problem, not take an action that could be tracked back to him.