WASHINGTON: CIA Director Leon Panetta this week asked a federal judge to keep records of US interrogations of top Al-Qaeda captives secret, arguing their release could cause "exceptionally grave" damage to national security.
Threatening to sideline this issue, however, is news that, behind the scenes in Washington, a nasty intelligence community turf war is taking place between the heads of the CIA and National Intelligence.
But first — the CIA is trying to get a US federal judge to keep sealed Bush-era documents on taped CIA interrogations, arguing their release would imperil national security.
The CIA chief said releasing CIA information, which describes the tough interrogation methods that were used, would reveal too much to America's enemies.
In a sworn affidavit filed with the court, Panetta defended classification of records detailing contents of 92 videotapes, their destruction in 2005 by the CIA, and what he called "sensitive operational information" about interrogations of detainees at secret overseas prisons, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Panetta stated that releasing detailed cables from CIA agents would disclose "sensitive intelligence" regarding the interrogation of Al-Qaeda figure Abu Zubaydah and provide "ready-made ammunition for Al-Qaeda propaganda."
"Al-Qaeda has a very effective propaganda operation," Panetta wrote. "When the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison was disclosed, Al-Qaeda made very effective use of that information in extremist websites that recruit jihadists and solicit financial support."
Panetta said none of the 65 CIA documents the American Civil Liberties Union sought for several years in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit should be released. He said the administration's release of Justice Department memos authorizing harsh interrogations was different from the CIA's desire to keep classified its documents on specific handling of detainees, the Post said.
Disclosure of such material "could be expected to result in exceptionally grave damage to the national security by informing our enemies of what we knew about them, and when, and in some instances, how we obtained the intelligence we possessed," Panetta argued.
These describe in detail the methods used against terror suspects and what information was obtained from them.
Most of the documents Panetta is asking to be kept under wraps are top-secret and represent "the most contemporaneous documents the CIA possesses concerning these interrogations."
Others include notes from 92 videotapes that depicted the interrogations. The CIA has admitted it destroyed those videotapes.
A criminal investigation is underway into why they were destroyed.
To further complicate matters, the CIA turned down a request last month by former Vice-President Dick Cheney to release secret documents as part of a campaign to show that harsh interrogation techniques yielded key intelligence.
President Barack Obama is also attempting to block a court decision ordering the release of photos showing American troops abusing prisoners — reversing a previous decision to allow them to be published.
Obama said last month he feared that publication would further inflame anti-American feelings in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's national security program, said the Obama administration's argument that the information should remain sealed because it could fuel anti-American propaganda was "grim" and "troubling."
As for the battle flaring up over US intelligence turf, it seems to boil down to two strong egos wanting to be the top gun on intel. The dispute between Dennis Blair, director of National Intelligence, and Panetta, director of the CIA, began over who would have final say in selection of top Americans to spy overseas.
Blair inherited an office created by the Bush administration in an effort to end intelligence turf battles that were partially blamed for failing to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but that analysts say has left roles ill-defined.
Blair, a career Navy man, is reported to be "furious about what he perceived as insubordination by Mr. Panetta, whose agency is now outranked by the National Intelligence director's office," wrote Tuesday's New York Times which broke the story.
The dispute has caused a real headache for retired Marine Gen. James Jones, the White House's National Security Advisor, who is trying to negotiate a truce between the two men.
It is Blair who currently seems to be gaining the upper hand, the newspaper said, garnering the support of such key lawmakers as Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, who has said, "We need to move intelligence away from the cold war mind-set, and the CIA has a problem to some extent accepting that."
