
Eyewash’: How the CIA deceives its own workforce about operations - pavornyoh
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/eyewash-how-the-cia-deceives-its-own-workforce-about-operations/2016/01/31/c00f5a78-c53d-11e5-9693-933a4d31bcc8_story.html
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zyxley
> during a five-year probe of the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation methods

"Harsh interrogation methods", the latest euphemism for "torture except it
doesn't count as torture when a Western nation does it".

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smt88
That's very cynical. In reality, that probe was examining things that might be
too harsh to be legal, but not necessarily extreme enough to fall under the
category of torture.

One example is verbal threats. Those aren't really "torture" (using the most
common definition), but they shouldn't necessarily be legal.

They were also investigating waterboarding, even though it wasn't considered
torture in the US at the time. The Obama Administration now officially
classifies it as torture, but it's good that waterboarding was examined
_before_ that reclassification was officially made.

There is a terrible injustice here, though, and it doesn't have to do with
definitions. It's that the aforementioned probe supposedly found no wrongdoing
and led to zero criminal trials.

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932874
No. The resulting report of that probe details many instances of torture.

> At least one prisoner was "diagnosed with chronic hemorrhoids, an anal
> fissure and symptomatic rectal prolapse," symptoms normally associated with
> a violent rape.

> One prisoner was placed in a box the size of a coffin for over 11 days and
> was also placed for 29 hours in a box 21 inches (53 cm) wide, 2.5 feet (76
> cm) deep and 2.5 feet (76 cm) high.

> One detainee was subjected to "ice water baths" and 66 hours of standing
> sleep deprivation. He was later released as the CIA had mistaken his
> identity.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Intelligence_Committee_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Intelligence_Committee_report_on_CIA_torture#Examples_of_torture_and_abuse_of_prisoners)

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smt88
That has nothing to do with what I said. I never denied that the probe found
torture. In fact, at the end of my comment, I lamented that no one was held
accountable for all the torture the report found. That's why I used the word
"supposedly" \-- because no one was accused of a crime. You misunderstood what
I said (or you didn't read it).

My comment was that the probe investigated a spectrum of crimes, including
things that were less than torture. That's a good thing. There are many acts
that are unacceptable (threatening someone's family was my example) even
though they aren't defined as torture by anyone.

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932874
I thought you were taking issue with the parent's comment that "enhanced
interrogation techniques" is a euphemism for torture. We're on the same page
then.

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zhemao
I can understand the need for compartmentalization, but why send the false
information at all? Why not just send the real cable to the select few who
need it, and not send anything on the regular channel?

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tedajax
If the recipients of fake information are properly logged then it becomes much
easier to track down leakers. If only one group of people received a piece
information and then a leak includes fake information that was only given to a
particular group then it gives a pretty strong indication that the leak
originated from that department.

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Terr_
Perhaps, but there's an important difference between changing minor details to
trace leaks versus "We are not at war with Eurasia."

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ascendantlogic
Breaking news: spooks lie to and distrust everyone.

~~~
sandworm101
The actual spooks were terrified by that program. People who do espionage take
things like reputation and honor very seriously. They understand the
implications of that program for people in the field. The problem is that 99%
of the people at cia/nsa/state are not anywhere near the field, nor do they
every talk to field people. That program was a decision make by armchair spies
with no appreciation of history, no respect for the profession.

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rdancer
Source?

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polotics
Start with "see no evil" by Bob Baer

~~~
rdancer
Thanks!

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rdancer
I always assumed that this is how sensitive compartmented information worked?

And that old yarn about lying to Congress — well...
[http://www.hasjamesclapperbeenindictedyet.com/](http://www.hasjamesclapperbeenindictedyet.com/)

