February 10, 2003

CIA covert action operatives among those assigned as 'info conduits'

The CIA is well on its way to installing analysts and covert action operatives in "each of the 56 FBI field offices in the United States." These CIA agents will liaison directly with both FBI and local police departments.

According to a CIA spokesman, the agents will supposedly serve only [sic] as "conduits of information," providing law enforcement with "distilled intelligence" from the CIA. At the same time, the CIA agents will compile intelligence on "potential terrorist activities" gathered by local police and send it to CIA HQ in Langley, VA. This effectively formally turns local police departments into spies for the CIA.

But the same spokesman confirmed that members of the CIA's "operational branch" were among those being assigned to the domestic FBI offices. In CIA parlance, that means the covert action division — the operatives reponsible for carrying out dirty tricks ranging from election rigging to assassinations.

So, if these CIA people are only "conduits of information," then why are they sending out a bunch of covert action cowboys? This is precisely the sort of "liaison" program which served as cover for illegal domestic operations (such as Operation CHAOS) that led to the intelligence scandals of the 1970s. This led directly to the federal laws which have barred the CIA from operating domestically. Those laws came under direct attack by the Bush Administration and their pals in the intelligence community, who have yearned to kill those restrictions since they were first enacted.

What's more, the offensively-(mis)named USA PATRIOT Act dramatically increased those very powers. For example, "sneak and peak" searches of homes and offices can be conducted only with a secret court order — no actual warrant need ever be obtained or displayed to the target, who also need never even be told their property was "searched."

So...are all these local cops and FBI agents going to be nothing more than cut-outs for CIA-directed covert actions against anyone with a dissident agenda or affiliation? If history is any guide, that's one of the safest bets around.

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