U.S. intelligence officers are digging through a cache of computer equipment and data taken in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in hopes it will yield leads on other al Qaeda leaders and plots, according to American officials.
So, Jim Clapper was right all along!
It didn't take long for the Washington long knives to come out and begin to suggest that a root cause of our current challenges in Egypt was the "failure" of intelligence -- the failure to warn, the failure to appreciate cultural movements or technological advances, the failure to take the long view or even the failure to monitor the World Wide Web.
As the dust begins to settle on "Wiki Dump III," some realities seem to be settling into the popular discourse and the public consciousness.
Members of the Obama administration, such as Michael Leiter, director of the National Counter Terrorism Center, have been using every public opportunity in recent weeks to tell the nation that the threat from al Qaeda has changed.
In a 1997 light-hearted comedy, "Excess Baggage," Benicio del Toro (an inadvertent kidnapper) asks Alicia Silverstone (the unintended kidnap victim), "How stupid do you think I am?" Silverstone classically deadpans her response, "How stupid is there?"
There they stood, an unprecedented public gathering of all heads of the American intelligence community. The 16 leaders of the agencies and departments that make up the intelligence community stood at attention behind Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair last week to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the position's formation.
The Central Intelligence Agency hired the private security firm Blackwater USA in 2004 to work on a covert program aimed at targeting and potentially killing top al Qaeda leaders, according to a source familiar with the program.
The highly controversial no-warrant surveillance program initiated after the September 11 terrorist attacks relied on a "factually flawed" legal analysis inappropriately provided by a single Justice Department official, according to a report to Congress on Friday.
President Obama, visiting CIA headquarters Monday, defended his decision to release Bush-era memos on interrogation tactics, saying the country will ultimately be stronger as a result.
President Obama says he released classified memos because of 'exceptional circumstances' surrounding them.
CIA interrogators used waterboarding at least 266 times on two top al Qaeda suspects, according to a Bush-era Justice Department memo released by the Obama administration.
There are Sundays where we make the news and Sundays where we just hang on and cover breaking news as best we can. This week, we had the best of both worlds.
A former head of the CIA slammed President Obama on Sunday for releasing four Bush-era memos, saying the new president has compromised national security.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing a review of the CIA's controversial interrogation programs under the Bush White House, a Senate Democratic aide told CNN.
A top Republican lawmaker is accusing employees at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency of blocking investigations into the downing of a missionary plane in Peru that killed two Americans in 2001.
Osama bin Laden is no longer believed to be the head of al Qaeda's day-to-day operations, but the United States' capturing or killing him would still have a powerful effect on the organization, CIA Director Michael Hayden said Tuesday.
More than a quarter of the U.S. intelligence agencies' employees are outside contractors, hired to fill in gaps in the military and civilian work force, according to a survey of the 16 intelligence agencies
The island of Diego Garcia hosted terror suspect in 2002
The Pentagon said Monday it is charging a Saudi Arabian with "organizing and directing" the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole -- and will seek the death penalty
Analysis: Yes, we've seeing success in Iraq, says Robert Baer. But it has nothing to do with rooting out terrorist cells
As the global population increases, it gets harder to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Simple answer: Control the population
The director of the CIA told an audience at Kansas State University on Wednesday that China is "not the inevitable enemy" of the United States.
CIA director said Wednesday that China is gaining power but should not be viewed as an 'inevitable' enemy of the U.S.
Every year Washington insiders gather for the annual correspondents' shindig, to pretend that they're cool
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on followers to stop shooting and cooperate with Iraqi security forces Sunday, a move Iraq's government praised as a step toward ending six days of fighting that has left hundreds dead.
The Justice Department said Friday it is investigating whether its attorneys properly authorized and reviewed the use of waterboarding by CIA investigators.
The United States will seek the death penalty against six Guantanamo Bay detainees who are suspects in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, an Air Force general said Monday.
CNN's Alina Cho talks with legal analyst Sunny Hostin about possible charges for suspected 9/11 planners.
CIA Director Michael Hayden tells the House Intelligence Committee he questions whether waterboarding is legal.
Waterboarding is necessary though probably not legal, CIA Director Michael Hayden told Congress Thursday as Attorney General Michael Mukasey said he would not open a criminal investigation into the CIA's use of the technique.
A Senate committee will hear allegations that a young U.S. resident was tortured and videotaped
The CIA director on Tuesday publicly named for the first time the three suspected al Qaeda detainees who were subjected to the harsh interrogation technique of waterboarding.
The nation's top two intelligence officials flew secretly this month to Pakistan, where they met with President Pervez Musharraf and other Pakistani officials to discuss terrorism, a U.S. intelligence official said Sunday.
NYT on CIA tapes
updated: Fri Dec 21 2007 14:26:00
CNN's John Roberts talks with a New York Times reporter about the CIA interrogation tapes controversy.
President Bush said Thursday that he would have no comment on the debate over the destruction of CIA tapes until an investigation is completed.
A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to appear in court Friday to answer allegations that it defied his demand to preserve evidence that may have included CIA interrogation videos of terrorist suspects in U.S. custody.
The Bush administration wants a federal court and congressional committees not to pursue investigations into the destruction of videotapes showing CIA interrogations of two al Qaeda suspects.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Friday rejected lawmakers' demands for information as the Justice Department investigates the destruction of tapes showing CIA interrogations of two al Qaeda suspects.
Analysis: Despite the furor over destroyed interrogation tapes, Congress's track record on torture does not bode well for a hard-hitting investigation
CIA Director Michael Hayden admitted Wednesday the agency could have done a better job of keeping the House Intelligence Committee in the loop when it destroyed videotapes showing agents using waterboarding and other "alternative" interrogation techniques on al Qaeda operatives.
The CIA director testifies in secret while a former officer says waterboarding was used. CNN's Ed Henry reports
Top lawmakers are demanding to know why the CIA destroyed videotapes of interrogation techniques being used on terror suspects and who knew about it.
A Senate Democratic leader said Sunday the attorney general should appoint a special counsel to investigate the CIA's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected terrorists
Attorneys for a "high-value" terror suspect who says he was tortured while being held at secret CIA prisons have requested that a judge bar the agency from destroying evidence of the alleged torture.
U.S. President George W. Bush "has no recollection" of videotapes of CIA interrogations of some al Qaeda suspects or of plans to destroy the tapes, a White House spokeswoman said.
U.S. lawmakers demand answers over the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes. CNN's Kelli Arena reports.
The agency tries to protect its operatives from betrayal by its political overlords. But in doing so, it may instead have imperiled them
The CIA destroyed videotapes of interrogations of al Qaeda suspects because they no longer had "intelligence value" and they posed a security risk, CIA director Michael Hayden said Thursday.
It took an act of Congress to force the CIA to lift the veil on its watchdog's internal investigation that lays out the agency's many failures in the months and years before September 11, 2001.
In declassifying its shadowy past, says Robert Baer, the agency wants to stop Washington from politicizing intelligence
The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Thursday that he had struck a deal with the White House to resolve a dispute over the constitutionality of conducting electronic surveillance with court approval.
The Senate Intelligence Committee voted 12-3 Tuesday in favor of Gen. Michael Hayden to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, sending his nomination to the floor for a vote by the full Senate.
One in four Americans think it is likely that the government has listened to their phone calls, according to a CNN poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation.
Gen. Michael Hayden answered a wide range of questions Thursday at the Senate Intelligence Committee. Click on a topic for excerpts of what he said on key issues.
Gen. Michael Hayden told senators Thursday that he would determine what the American public needs to know and what will remain secret if he is confirmed to take the reins of the embattled Central Intelligence Agency.
Details of a classified government wiretap program will be given to full congressional committees for the first time on Wednesday, senior politicians said.
Despite media reports to the contrary, BellSouth said late Monday it had not participated in any effort by the National Security Agency to collect customer phone records.
President Bush said Thursday the government is "not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans" with a reported program to create a massive database of U.S. phone calls.
Key senators pressed Michael Hayden on Wednesday about whether he would operate as an independent CIA director despite his active status as an Air Force four-star general.
Steve Kappes, a recently retired CIA insider, has been offered the No. 2 slot at the spy agency, sources told CNN, to reassure the CIA operations community about Gen. Michael Hayden's appointment as director as well as ease concerns about that nominee's military ties.
The sudden and unexpected resignation of Porter Goss as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Friday highlights a long bureaucratic battle that's been going on behind the scenes in Washington. Ever since John Negroponte was appointed Director of National Intelligence a year ago and given the task of coordinating the nation's myriad spy agencies, he has been diluting the power and prestige of the CIA. From day one, he supplanted the CIA Director as the President's principal intelligence adviser, in charge of George W. Bush's daily briefing. Other changes followed, all originating in the law that created the DNI -- and all traumatic for CIA fans. Then, earlier this week, in a little noticed move, Negroponte signaled that he would be moving still more responsibility from the CIA to his own office, including control over the analysis of terrorist groups and threats.
President Bush on Monday nominated Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden as director of the CIA.
President Bush on Monday nominated Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to be the new CIA chief, setting up a possible battle with members of Congress who question whether his military status is right for the spy agency.
Lawmakers from both parties expressed concern Sunday that President Bush reportedly will nominate a longtime military officer to head the CIA.
Porter Goss said Saturday that his surprise resignation as CIA director is "just one of those mysteries," offering no other explanation for his sudden departure after almost two years on the job.
President Bush has settled on Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden as his choice for CIA director, and an announcement is planned for Monday, senior administration officials told CNN late Friday.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Ali MacGraw will make her Broadway debut in "Festen," the London hit that will also star Larry Bryggman, Michael Hayden and Julianna Margulies.
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is poised to defend President Bush's controversial domestic spying program Monday when he testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the program.
President Bush and other officials Monday intensified their defense of a domestic surveillance program that supporters say protects against terrorism and critics say threatens civil liberties.
John Negroponte faces intrigue, subterfuge and shadowy fighters. And that's just in Washington.
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