"...if one closely examines the U.S. Constitution, the document that brought the federal government into existence, one fails to find any authority for the CIA, the NSA, or the vast military-industrial complex. In fact, the term “national security” isn’t even mentioned in the entire document."

So What If the CIA Is Spying on Congress?
by Jacob G. Hornberger

According to the news media, the Department of Justice is investigating whether the CIA “illegally” monitored the members of a congressional staff who were investigating the CIA’s secret torture and detention program.

What a joke.

Nothing will come of this investigation. No CIA officials will be indicted or prosecuted. None will be reprimanded. None will be fired. We won’t even learn the identities of those who did the spying. “National security” will be cited and that will be the end of the matter.

The Department of Justice can engage in these types of charades to its heart’s content, but the reality is that the national-security part of the government — the CIA, the Pentagon, and the NSA — long ago became, de facto, the fourth branch of the federal government — and the most powerful branch at that. Everyone knows that no one is going to touch the CIA or the NSA or the Pentagon for spying or, for that matter, torturing, assassinating, kidnapping, or doing anything else to protect “national security.”

Recall that CIA official who knowingly, intentionally, and deliberately destroyed those videotapes in which the CIA had recorded CIA agents torturing people. He knew that those tapes were part of the official investigation into the CIA’s torture program. He didn’t care. He knew that the tapes would hurt the CIA, and so he proceeded to destroy them.

What happened to that CIA official? Nothing, of course. That’s because everyone knows that it’s not a wise thing to take on the CIA.

In fact, the last president to take on the CIA was John F. Kennedy, who vowed to tear the agency into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds. No president since then has dared to do so.

If you have any doubts of the omnipotent power of the CIA, consider the executions of two American citizens: Charles Horman and Mike Teruggi. They were executed by goons belonging to CIA-installed Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet, with the complicity of the CIA.

Were the CIA agents who participated in those murders ever brought to trial? Do we even know who they are? Was the CIA ever reprimanded for its role in the cold-blooded execution of two innocent American citizens?

No to all those questions.

Did President Nixon order the hits or did the CIA carry them out on its own? We don’t know and it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the CIA carried out the hits as part of a “national security” operation. That immunized the CIA from liability whether Nixon authorized it or not. When it comes to national-security assassinations, no one is going to second-guess the CIA or the rest of the national-security branch of the government.

Consider this article by Atlantic columnist Conor Friedersdorf, in which the author points out that a U.S. Senator, Mark Udall, asked CIA Director John Brennan under oath whether the CIA is (illegally) spying on Americans. The easiest answer would have simply been “No.” Here’s how Brennan responded:

BRENNAN: I can assure the committee that the CIA follows the letter and the spirit of the law in terms of what the CIA’s authorities are, in terms of its responsibilities to collect intelligence that will keep this country safe. Yes, Senator, I do.

Did Udall or any U.S. Senator follow up and pin Brennan down and make him answer the question directly? Of course not. That would mean taking on the CIA. Every member of Congress knows that that is not a wise thing, given the omnipotent power of the CIA and its sister agencies in its branch of government, the Pentagon and the NSA.

And so what if the CIA is (illegally) spying on Americans? What difference does it make? If it turns out it is, we all know nothing is going to happen. No one is going to be arrested or go to jail over the matter. There would be the standard apologies and promises not to do it again, but big deal. As long as the CIA exists, everyone knows that it, along with the Pentagon and the CIA, is free to do whatever it wants so long as it’s part of a “national security” operation.

Consider the CIA’s (illegal) kidnapping of that guy in Italy and his rendition to Egypt (yes, that Egypt!) for the purpose of torturing him. The CIA operatives who were involved in that (illegal) act were convicted in Italy. Did anything happen to them? Of course not. Why not? Because they were committing that (illegal) act as part of a “national security” operation, which means that, for all practical purposes, it wasn’t illegal.

Of course, if one closely examines the U.S. Constitution, the document that brought the federal government into existence, one fails to find any authority for the CIA, the NSA, or the vast military-industrial complex. In fact, the term “national security” isn’t even mentioned in the entire document.

But even though this fourth branch of government came into existence without even the semblance of a constitutional amendment, we all know it’s not going anywhere, especially given that it has become more powerful than the other three branches. As long as it’s protecting “national security,” the CIA — and, for that matter, the Pentagon and the NSA — has carte blanche to spy on whomever it wants as well as detain, incarcerate, torture, execution, and assassinate anyone in the world, including Americans, with impunity.

Link:
http://fff.org/2014/03/07/so-what-if-the-cia-is-spying-on-congress/