A report released on Friday by the inspectors general of five agencies about the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program makes clear that Mr. Cheney’s legal adviser, David S. Addington, had to approve personally every government official who was told about the program.
Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project
New York Times
July 11, 2009
As if it wasn't irregular enough for a vice president to have as much control over intelligence matters as Cheney did, we now learn that the veep's legal advisor (who, to put it mildly, wasn't even within spitting distance of the constitutional chain of command) had the ultimate veto over circulation of the NSA's deepest darkest secrets. It just underscores what a legal horror show the Bush/Cheney/Addington Administration really was.
This was the gang, remember, that was going to give us "adult supervision." But somebody forgot to read this to the child emperor.
I'm powerfully tempted to draw a facile comparison to the irrational org charts and bureaucratic chaos of previous regimes that knew nothing and cared less about the rule of law. But the one that comes most readily to mind is actually purely fictional.
Update 2:30 pm ET:
Democrats in Congress, who contend that the Bush administration improperly limited Congressional briefings on intelligence, are seeking to change the National Security Act to permit the full intelligence committees to be briefed on more matters.
Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project
New York Times
July 11, 2009
God knows I'm all in favor of shedding more light on the CIA's dirty laundry. But there doesn't seem much point in passing a new law unless we're willing to prosecute the people who made mincemeat out of the old one.