The CIA and Speaker Pelosi

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has leveled some extraordinary charges at the CIA, claiming that America’s primary intelligence agency is lying to the nation’s democratically-elected leaders.

Here’s the LA Times treatment of her comments:

“The CIA was misleading the Congress” as part of a broader Bush administration pattern of deception about its activities, said Pelosi (D-San Francisco).

“The only mention of waterboarding at that briefing was that it was not being employed,” she said, adding, “We now know that earlier, they were.”

The accusation has made her the target of conservative critics, some of whom have demanded that she step down.

And they’re right in a way: Pelosi has some explaining to do.

But the broader truth is that the CIA has performed abysmally in recent years. In a democratic society, a secretive institution with this kind of track record must be the target of new scrutiny.

It’s not simply about human rights, morality, or ethics; it’s also about defending America. Consider this track record:

Our intelligence services had no idea that the Soviet Union was about to disintegrate.

A great deal of detailed information about the 9/11 plot was acquired by the CIA in the months before the attack. Because of inter-agency politicking, the hijackers weren’t arrested.

The CIA was catastrophically wrong about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. CIA director George Tenet told President Bush that finding WMDs would be a “slam dunk.”

The Agency also aided and abetted the Bush Administration in the establishment of a shadow system of secret prisons, kidnappings and torture.

Some have quibbled about water-boarding. Is it torture? Is it something else?

What is certain is that US agents kidnapped civilians — some from U.S. soil — for the express purpose of delivering them to foreign governments who torture detainees as a matter of course.

We now know that in at least some instances, our agents abducted individuals who were entirely innocent.

A Canadian named Maher Arar was arrested at JFK airport and shipped to a prison in Syria where he was tortured under our “extraordinary rendition” program.

Arar was later released without being charged and completely cleared by Canadian authorities.

Which brings us back to Speaker Pelosi’s claims.

Her branch of Congress holds primary oversight over America’s secret intelligence-gathering agencies.

Some of her Democratic colleagues seem to agree that the CIA has been less than truthful. Here again from the LA Times.

“You have to play 20 questions with them,” said Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Menlo Park). “They are not forthcoming with information.”

Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), the chairman of the [intelligence] panel, said he intended to introduce legislation that would impose new standards on what the CIA is required to report to Congress.

That’s not good enough. Nor is it enough to appoint a “truth commission,” as Speaker Pelosi has suggested.

If the House leadership has reason to believe that the CIA was torturing detainees and then lying about their activities, it is their clear duty to demand a full investigation.

At the very least, we need Congressional hearings, with subpoena power and the potential for criminal prosecutions.

There is no principle more important than civilian control of our military and intelligence agencies.

If the CIA broke the law to conceal heinous behavior, the perpetrators should go to jail.

Speaker Pelosi’s credibility has already been strained by this controversy.

It will be strained to the breaking point if she levels such grave charges and then does nothing about them.