NY Times Identifies CIA Interrogator Against CIA Wishes

Too bad, because an otherwise fascinating story about the scramble to build a counterterror apparatus after 9/11, the merits of coercive vs. non-coercive interrogation, and the stings that nailed Abu Zubaydah and KSM is going to be submerged in a debate over their decision to publish the lead interrogator’s name against his wishes and those of CIA chief Michael Hayden. Here’s the obligatory editor’s note justifying the decision. Quote:

After discussion with agency officials and a lawyer for [the interrogrator], the newspaper declined the request, noting that [the interrogator] had never worked under cover and that others involved in the campaign against Al Qaeda have been named in news stories and books. The editors judged that the name was necessary for the credibility and completeness of the article.

The Times’ policy is to withhold the name of a news subject only very rarely, most often in the case of victims of sexual assault or intelligence officers operating under cover.

Read the piece and you’ll see that credibility and completeness have nothing to do with it. It’s not a story about him; he’s just the springboard to explore the themes I mentioned earlier.
Hot Air -- NYT reveals name of KSM’s chief interrogator — against CIA’s wishes

Hey, didn't Valarie Plame work for the CIA? This case, like the Plame case did not involve a covert agent -- but unlike the Plame case this agent was overseas within the last 5 years, which I think was of concern when determining Plame's status.
DKK

Final Word On Coercive Interrogation

General Michael Hayden on Fox News Special Report.:

"A significant fraction of our knowledge of al Qaeda came from," the coercive interrogation techniques used in the early days following 9/11.

He also stated that those techniques were deemed legal by our government, including the informed leaders of both parties in congress but since then changes in the law and court rulings have restricted the use of these techniques.

That statement confirmed the comments of George Tenant and Michael Scheurer on O'Reilly.

While it is true that sometimes the prisoner will lie and provide false information that confuses amateurs in the movies, but today's effective, coordinated, trained, and experienced investigation team understands and uses that knowledge as part of a coordinated effort to ferret out the truth. I've heard that even the lies can confirm suspect information.

Can we put this canard to rest now or will we have to wait until Bush is no longer President and it is illegal to be a national defense conservative.
DKK

CIA -- al Qaeda Suffering?

Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

In a strikingly upbeat assessment, the CIA chief cited major gains against al-Qaeda's allies in the Middle East and an increasingly successful campaign to destabilize the group's core leadership.

While cautioning that al-Qaeda remains a serious threat, Hayden said Osama bin Laden is losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world and has largely forfeited his ability to exploit the Iraq war to recruit adherents. Two years ago, a CIA study concluded that the U.S.-led war had become a propaganda and marketing bonanza for al-Qaeda, generating cash donations and legions of volunteers.

All that has changed, Hayden said in an interview with The Washington Post this week that coincided with the start of his third year at the helm of the CIA.

DKK

Washington Post U.S -- Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda

Titanic's Final Secret Revealed!

The man who located the wreck of the Titanic has revealed that the discovery was a cover story to camouflage the real mission of inspecting the wrecks of two Cold War nuclear submarines.

When Bob Ballard led a team that pinpointed the wreckage of the liner in 1985 he had already completed his main task of finding out what happened to USS Thresher and USS Scorpion.

Both of the United States Navy vessels sank during the 1960s, killing more than 200 men and giving rise to fears that at least one of them, Scorpion, had been sunk by the USSR.

Dr Ballard, an oceanographer, has admitted that he located and inspected the wrecks for the US Navy in top secret missions before he was allowed to search for the Titanic.

(...)

Titanic: The Final Secret will be shown on the National Geographic Channel at 9pm on June 8.

This is reminiscent of the Hughes Glomar Explorer that Howard Hughes said was intended to mine minerals off of the ocean floor but was really used to recover the sunken K129 Soviet submarine. The effort was only partially successful.

DKK

Times of London -- Titanic search was cover for secret Cold War subs mission