Ex-CIA agent charged with leaking info on Gitmo case
By msnbc.com staff and news services
A former CIA officer who said he participated in the capture and interrogation of alleged terrorist Abu Zubaydah was charged Monday with disclosing classified information to journalists, the Justice Department announced.
In a statement, the department said John Kiriakou, 47, revealed the name of a covert CIA officer and the role of another CIA agent in classified activities involving the capture and detention of Zubaydah, who had been the third most senior al-Qaida figure and who is now at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kiriakou, who wrote a book about the CIA and has said he was on the team that captured Zubaydah in 2002, was to make an initial court appearance later Monday.
more; http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10217256-ex-cia-agent-charged-with-leaking-info-on-gitmo-case
leveymg
(36,418 posts)From the White House Website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment
Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies
SUBJECT: Transparency and Open Government
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify information of greatest use to the public.
Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government's effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government.
- BARACK OBAMA
24601
(3,962 posts)And as a former CIA officer and Senate Staffer, he was one who knew exactly what was what - no gray areas where he can claim he didn't understand.
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)and those who tortured people?