CIA shouldn’t get away with redacting torture report

Dana Milbank WashPost

If the CIA spends half as much energy finding terrorists as it has spent fighting Congress, we should feel very safe.

The spooks, taking a break from the mundane work of protecting the nation, have lately been turning their spycraft against the lawmakers who are supposed to be overseeing them. The not-so-secret mission: To block the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on tortu—, uh, enhanced interrogation methods.

First, CIA officials broke into computers that were being used by the committee — a clear constitutional violation — and then, using false information, tried to have committee staffers prosecuted. CIA Director John Brennan apologized for spying on the senators’ activities. President Obama, in a news conference on Aug. 1, said the intelligence committee was free to issue its report, “the declassified version that will be released at the pleasure of the Senate committee.”

(More here.)