The CIA: Who Watches the Watchdogs?
To the Point
KCRW
4.4 • 583 Ratings
🗓️ 15 October 2007
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The CIA's Inspector General has criticized overseas prisons,
interrogations and intelligence failures. Now the CIA is investigating
the Inspector General. have career agents been treated unfairly? Is
it a conflict of interest to investigate the investigator? Also, a possible victory over al Qaeda in Iraq, and Greece gets serious about the return of the Elgin Marbles.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point. |
| 0:08.0 | Who's watching The Watchdogs? |
| 0:13.2 | Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues Americans care about most. |
| 0:19.7 | The CIA is a top secret agency, |
| 0:21.5 | but it's still subject to oversight by an inspector general who's supposed to be fair and independent. |
| 0:26.9 | In the past few years, John Helgerson has issued scathing reports on overseas prisons, |
| 0:31.8 | interrogations, and intelligence failures. Now, CIA Director Michael Hayden is investigating |
| 0:36.8 | Helgerson, an unprecedented review |
| 0:38.9 | that's raised hackles on Capitol Hill. On to the point, has Helgerton been unfair to career |
| 0:44.3 | officers, not to mention former director George Tenet, will Hayden's probe intimidate whistleblowers |
| 0:50.0 | and compromise the Inspector General's independence. First, here's the news. |
| 0:59.4 | Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica |
| 1:03.9 | and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, |
| 1:07.1 | whose contributors include the Ford Foundation |
| 1:09.3 | and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. |
| 1:12.4 | Hello again. Mormon, I'll be back with To the Point. After investigations, the CIA's Inspector General has been scathingly critical of overseas prisons, interrogations, and intelligence failures. |
| 1:22.7 | Now the CIA is investigating the Inspector General. On To the point, have career agents been treated unfairly? |
| 1:29.0 | Is it a conflict of interest to investigate the investigator? First is news update. |
| 1:34.1 | The U.S. military believes that it is dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al-Qaeda in Iraq in recent months, |
| 1:42.0 | leading some generals to advocate a declaration of victory over that |
| 1:45.6 | group. That's according to today's Washington Post. But the paper also reports that other officials |
| 1:50.6 | see a declaration of that kind as premature. Thomas Ricks was co-author of the story, and Tom Ricks, |
... |
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