Betraying one of the CIA’s ‘Band of Sisters’?

By: American Decency Staff

 

Former CIA director Mike Hayden credits “an incredible band of sisters” for the success of the operation that found and brought down Osama bin Laden. Now one of those sisters has been appointed acting chief of the CIA’s National Clandestine service. It is a major milestone for women at the CIA, the first time in the agency’s history that a female officer has headed the clandestine service.

But The Post reports that CIA Director John Brennan is “hesitating” at giving her the position on a permanent basis, because of her past association with the CIA’s rendition, detention and interrogation (RDI) program.

 

This is an outrage. According to several former senior CIA officials I spoke with, the officer is highly respected and unquestionably qualified for this post. Denying her this promotion because of her role in the RDI program would not only be a personal injustice, but also send a chilling message through the ranks of the CIA. It would effectively tell hundreds of talented officers who were involved in the program — who constitute the best and brightest of the agency’s counterterrorism professionals — that their careers over. It would push the agency back into a risk-averse, pre-Sept. 11, 2001, mindset, sending an unmistakable signal to CIA officers across the world: Don’t take risks in the fight against the terrorists; if you want to advance, play it safe.

These intelligence officers have already been put through hell by the Obama administration. They have been accused of “torture” by their own president. They were investigated and cleared of criminal wrongdoing by career Justice Department prosecutors during the Bush administration, only to see Attorney General Eric Holder overrule those decisions and reopen the investigations. After enduring another three year ordeal, they were cleared a second timeby the Obama Justice Department. Yet they continue to be persecuted for their service to our country.

Read More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-betraying-one-of-the-cias-band-of-sisters/2013/04/01/52441310-9ad1-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html

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