Central Intelligence Agency Tries New Tactic: Keeping Things Hidden

The ACLU has brought a lawsuit against the CIA, focusing interrogation techniques and destroyed tapes of said interrogations.

In a move that should surprise exactly no one, CIA Director Leon Panetta is asking a federal judge to keep several memos on interrogation techniques from public view. I believe the term he used was something like gravely damage national security.

I think Bernie Maddoff said something similar about his books, oh, and I feel like those guys at Enron really felt like that information could be harmful to a lot of people- namely themselves.

Leon: Do you honestly expect me or anyone to believe that keeping memos about interrogation techniques we now pretty much know was torture will protect anyone but you? If by national security you mean not losing your job, then I think the judge should certainly listen to you and keep all evidence of your actions secret. Keep the intelligence central, in the agency, so to speak.

Then again, you may be right- I haven't read them so how do I know what kind of revealing information is contained in these "memos." Perhaps the fate of the free world hangs in the balance.

"I have determined that the disclosure of intelligence about al-Qaida reasonably could be expected to result in exceptionally grave damage to the national security by informing our enemies of what we knew about them, and when, and in some instances, how we obtained the intelligence," said Panetta in his request to the judge. The CIA is also fighting to keep documents that detail interrogation techniques from being released.

But I thought the request is to keep descriptions of interrogation techniques from terrorist groups- that's the issue here. Am I supposed to believe that terrorist groups can't come up with viable scenarios about waterboarding and slamming humans into walls?

Panetta acknowledged that the CIA destroyed 92 interrogation videotapes from 2002.

Again, Panetta acknowledged that the CIA destroyed 92 interrogation videotapes from 2002.

Interestingly, the CIA refused to release some of the same memos when former VP Dick Cheney requested they be released for another reason- to prove that "enhanced interrogation techniques" DO get valuable information out of detainees. I'll be they do.

Even President Obama has said that releasing videotapes of these kind of interrogation techniques would do more harm than good.

Let's unravel the acronyms:
CIA= Central Intelligence Agency.
ACLU= American Civil Liberties Union

Is it an American Civil Liberty to know the Central Intelligence of the United States?

That's up to you.