The Washington Post and the New York Times are competing with each other to see which of the two can more quickly dismantle the Administration’s counter-terrorism effort. There’s a division of labor between the two, with the Post and the Times focusing on the foreign and domestic portions of the program, respectively. Evidently, Pulitzer Prizes are more important than national security. Hasn’t it occurred to the leakers and to the reporters who receive and publish the leaked information that it may be these programs that have prevented another 9/11 (or worse) for more than four years? We are at war; they are sabotaging our defenses. In past wars, censorship was imposed. Because that is unthinkable now, we must rely on the responsibility of the press. Revelations pertaining to our counter-terrorism efforts are taking place at an accelerating rate. I can only hope there will be a public outcry at the irresponsibility that threatens the lives of our citizens.

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In a follow-up to her November 2 story (“CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons“) in the Washington Post, Dana Priest has penned another story (“Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor“) that’s certain to raise some eyebrows.

    According to former and current intelligence officials and congressional and administration sources, the effort President Bush authorized shortly after 9/11 to fight al Qaeda has grown into the largest CIA covert action program since the height of the Cold War. This effort, known as GST, is compartmentalized into dozens of highly classified individual programs, details of which are known mainly to those directly involved.

    GST includes programs allowing the CIA to capture al Qaeda suspects with help from foreign intelligence services, to maintain secret prisons abroad, to use interrogation techniques that some lawyers say violate international treaties, and to maintain a fleet of aircraft to move detainees around the globe. Other compartments within GST give the CIA enhanced ability to mine international financial records and eavesdrop on suspects anywhere in the world.

    Over the past two years, revelations about the program have prompted protests and official investigations in countries that work with the US, as well as condemnation by international human rights activists and criticism by members of Congress. Despite these protests and investigations, nearly all the programs are operating largely as they were set up.

As expected.

    Bush has never publicly confirmed the existence of a covert program, but, in November, responding to questions about the CIA’s clandestine prisons, he said the nation must defend against an enemy that “lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again.”

He’s said that (or the equivalent) many, many times.

    Three lawyers involved with the GST program said the legal rationale for it is essentially the same one used to support NSA.

Here we go again.