CIA's Video Tapes

Let me see if I have got this right, Porter Goss when he was in the House of Representatives and a member of the intelligence committee recommended to the CIA that the interrogation tapes be preserved (C.I.A. Was Urged to Keep Interrogation Videotapes, New York Times, December 8, 2007: A1).

After Porter Goss becomes Director of the CIA, one of his senior subordinates orders the tapes destroyed without getting clearance from his boss. Once again, the CIA is out of control -- I am old enough to remember the Church Committee's findings. Once again, the Congress will have to take proactive action to reign in this rogue agency.

Alas, I expect the constraints that will have to be imposed may reduce our security in the short term but in the long run they will help reestablish the trust that Americans must have in the CIA and the trust that the world must have in America.

Sent to New York Times