Word: programming
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...mercenaries for a covert (if ultimately fruitless) program to hunt down and kill al-Qaeda leaders? Despite sensational claims in today's New York Times and Washington Post, the Agency continues to maintain omerta on the secret program, which Director Leon Panetta cancelled in late June. But former CIA hands, including Panetta's predecessor Michael Hayden, are rallying to its defense...
Although he wouldn't directly comment about what role contractors played in the program, he pointed out that under the guidelines of the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Agency is allowed to use contractors for intelligence analysis and collection. The CIA has declined to comment on whether it brought the private security Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, into the secret program, much less what role the firm played. (What happens when private armies take to the front lines...
Hayden expressed dismay over the political storm that broke after Panetta briefed Congress about the program, which started under the directorship of George Tenet, was then cancelled and revived again under two subsequent directors. It was "not a very prominent thing when I was director," Hayden said. "When I heard [that Panetta had briefed Congress], I thought, 'What are you talking about? What program is this...
...Hayden's description added to the confusion about how far the program had gone before Panetta cancelled it. Republican members of Congress briefed by Panetta have suggested it was scarcely more than a PowerPoint presentation; others have speculated the director would not have raised the alarm if it had not been operational. CIA spokesman George Little told TIME that the program "was, in fact, much more than a PowerPoint presentation." But that doesn't automatically mean it was fully operational, either...
Clarity may be at hand, however. An internal enquiry into the program, ordered by Panetta, has been completed. Panetta is expected to take the classified report to the Hill shortly after the recess...