Word: programming
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...several former CIA officers and intelligence experts contacted by TIME found that explanation problematic. For one thing, they say, the mere fact that the program apparently merited Cheney's close attention should have been a red flag. "Even if the program was dormant, the top officials would have known about Cheney's instructions, and they should have told Panetta right away," says a former operations expert...
...agency is keeping mum on the entire issue, but an official familiar with the matter tells TIME the program wasn't brought to Panetta's attention sooner because it was not operational. "It's a capability that wasn't being used, so it wasn't a front-burner issue," says the official. Another retired official familiar with the details of the secret program says, "It would have been a big deal if it was operational, but since it was not, it's not a big deal." (Watch TIME's video about the risks of relying on chatter...
Another retired senior official put it more bluntly: "[Given Cheney's interest,] I don't know why the program was not on the new director's desk within his first two weeks on the job." Both former officials asked not to be named. The second official also questioned the argument that the program was not important enough for Panetta's immediate attention. "The speed of Panetta's actions when he was informed tells me that the program was pretty important," he says. (See the top 10 Secret Service code names...
Panetta's lack of intelligence experience may well have been a factor, since he did not know to look for potential grenades like the secret program. "One of the concerns when he was appointed was that he would be the weak link inside the agency," says Amy Zegart, a national-security expert and professor of public policy at UCLA. But Zegart points out that Panetta isn't alone in his ignorance. "There are two big 'so whats' to the latest news," she says. "One is: What's going on in the Executive Branch that the CIA director doesn't even...
...nature of the original unrest, over an incident of workplace violence, offers clues to the depth of the Uighurs' feeling of economic discontent. The 800 Uighurs at the toy factory in the Guangdong city of Shaoguan were part of a government program to send minority workers to the coast. "They can't get work in their own province, so they go to the far corner of the country to seek jobs," says Dru Gladney, an expert on Islam in China and president of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College. "They are recruited by the government, and then they feel...