Lawmakers Raise Concerns Over Call for Investigation of C.I.A. Watchdog’s Work
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/washington/13intel.html?ref=us
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 — The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee joined Democrats on Friday in expressing strong concern about an unusual inquiry into the work of the Central Intelligence Agency’s inspector general, John L. Helgerson, saying the review could undermine Mr. Helgerson’s role as independent watchdog.
The inquiry was ordered by the C.I.A. director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, in response to complaints about aggressive investigations by Mr. Helgerson’s office into the agency’s counterterrorism programs.
“The C.I.A. has a track record of resisting accountability,” Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who is the committee’s vice chairman, said in a statement.
Mr. Bond said the inspector general had done “great work,” adding, “I will be watching carefully to make sure that nothing is done to restrain or diminish that important office.”
The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that General Hayden had directed a small team of top agency officials to examine Mr. Helgerson’s performance.
The team is led by Robert L. Deitz, a close aide to General Hayden at the C.I.A. who also served under him as general counsel of the National Security Agency. Mr. Deitz agreed before Friday’s news reports to brief the Senate and House Intelligence Committees next week about the inquiry, officials said Friday.
Some current and former agency officials said the inquiry was improper because it could be viewed as an effort to influence investigations. Mr. Helgerson is finishing several reports on detention, including one on the practice of seizing terrorism suspects and delivering them to foreign prisons, officials who have followed his work said.
A spokesman for General Hayden said the inquiry was “a straightforward management review, nothing more,” saying it “can only strengthen oversight at the C.I.A.” The spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, added, “It’s ridiculous to suggest that this is in any way an attack on the concept of a vigorous system of inspection and investigation.”
But Representative Silvestre Reyes, the Texas Democrat who is chairman of the House committee, called the inquiry troubling, noting that the inspector general’s independence is written into the law.
In a letter, Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, asked Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, to instruct General Hayden to drop the inquiry.
“I just don’t want to see I.G.’s intimidated,” Mr. Wyden said in an interview. He added, “People who know they’re doing the right thing are not afraid of oversight.”
Mr. Helgerson, who joined the C.I.A. in 1971, was named inspector general by President Bush in 2002. He reports to General Hayden and to Congress and can be removed only by the president.
Mr. Helgerson has angered senior officers in the National Clandestine Service with what they consider to be unfair and drawn-out inquiries. “There have been complaints about the impartiality and methodology of some investigations,” said one official who would speak of the agency’s internal deliberations only on the condition of anonymity.
Tensions arose over the inspector general’s examination of the shooting down of a missionary plane in Peru in 2001 based on the C.I.A.’s mistaken identification of the aircraft. Mr. Helgerson raised questions in 2004 about the legality of the agency’s interrogation methods for Qaeda suspects and in 2005 issued a blistering report on the agency’s failure to prevent the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Mr. Wyden said General Hayden “fought very, very hard” to prevent the inspector general’s 9/11 report from becoming public. Ultimately, Congress passed legislation requiring its release, and it was made public in August.
One former C.I.A. official said Friday that another flash point in relations between the agency and Mr. Helgerson was a report on a botched case in which, because of a name mix-up, a Lebanese-born German citizen was seized in Macedonia, beaten and imprisoned in Afghanistan.
The inquiry was ordered by the C.I.A. director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, in response to complaints about aggressive investigations by Mr. Helgerson’s office into the agency’s counterterrorism programs.
“The C.I.A. has a track record of resisting accountability,” Senator Christopher S. Bond, the Missouri Republican who is the committee’s vice chairman, said in a statement.
Mr. Bond said the inspector general had done “great work,” adding, “I will be watching carefully to make sure that nothing is done to restrain or diminish that important office.”
The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that General Hayden had directed a small team of top agency officials to examine Mr. Helgerson’s performance.
The team is led by Robert L. Deitz, a close aide to General Hayden at the C.I.A. who also served under him as general counsel of the National Security Agency. Mr. Deitz agreed before Friday’s news reports to brief the Senate and House Intelligence Committees next week about the inquiry, officials said Friday.
Some current and former agency officials said the inquiry was improper because it could be viewed as an effort to influence investigations. Mr. Helgerson is finishing several reports on detention, including one on the practice of seizing terrorism suspects and delivering them to foreign prisons, officials who have followed his work said.
A spokesman for General Hayden said the inquiry was “a straightforward management review, nothing more,” saying it “can only strengthen oversight at the C.I.A.” The spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, added, “It’s ridiculous to suggest that this is in any way an attack on the concept of a vigorous system of inspection and investigation.”
But Representative Silvestre Reyes, the Texas Democrat who is chairman of the House committee, called the inquiry troubling, noting that the inspector general’s independence is written into the law.
In a letter, Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, asked Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence, to instruct General Hayden to drop the inquiry.
“I just don’t want to see I.G.’s intimidated,” Mr. Wyden said in an interview. He added, “People who know they’re doing the right thing are not afraid of oversight.”
Mr. Helgerson, who joined the C.I.A. in 1971, was named inspector general by President Bush in 2002. He reports to General Hayden and to Congress and can be removed only by the president.
Mr. Helgerson has angered senior officers in the National Clandestine Service with what they consider to be unfair and drawn-out inquiries. “There have been complaints about the impartiality and methodology of some investigations,” said one official who would speak of the agency’s internal deliberations only on the condition of anonymity.
Tensions arose over the inspector general’s examination of the shooting down of a missionary plane in Peru in 2001 based on the C.I.A.’s mistaken identification of the aircraft. Mr. Helgerson raised questions in 2004 about the legality of the agency’s interrogation methods for Qaeda suspects and in 2005 issued a blistering report on the agency’s failure to prevent the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Mr. Wyden said General Hayden “fought very, very hard” to prevent the inspector general’s 9/11 report from becoming public. Ultimately, Congress passed legislation requiring its release, and it was made public in August.
One former C.I.A. official said Friday that another flash point in relations between the agency and Mr. Helgerson was a report on a botched case in which, because of a name mix-up, a Lebanese-born German citizen was seized in Macedonia, beaten and imprisoned in Afghanistan.
