Editorial: 'Family jewels,' then and now (Berkshire Eagle)

Saturday, June 30

~snip~ The unveiling of the CIA's "family jewels" earlier this week didn't contain many surprises but was disturbing nonetheless, given the magnitude of incompetence and paranoia that enveloped the agency and its overseers. It raises the obvious question of whether or not the situation is any different today. ~snip~

It has been known for some time that both the C.I.A. and the National Security Agency opened the mail of Vietnam War protesters and engaged in electronic surveillance of them. The Pentagon has acknowledged improperly spying on Iraq War protesters, who are far fewer in number than were the Vietnam War protesters who shook the nation, and the techniques today are far more advanced. We have only a general idea of the extent of the White House's illegal domestic spying operation, but the tools at its disposal were all but unimaginable 40 years ago.

We also don't know the full extent of CIA and NSA activities 40 years ago, as there were still some deletions from the extensive material released Tuesday. However, there is no indication that the CIA regularly imprisoned suspected spies without trial, which is the rough parallel to the jailing of approximately 100 suspected terrorists by the CIA since shortly after September 11, 2001. We don't know if torture was employed in the '60s either, but we do know it is employed today and defended both by the CIA and the Bush administration.

The shameful nature of the CIA's activities is compounded by the reality that there is no evidence they in any way protected America from its enemies. We suspect the same conclusion will be reached when the Bush administration's "family jewels" are uncovered, and we don't want to wait 40 years to find out. An industrious Congress may get some answers before President Bush's term runs out.

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/editorials/ci_6267702