Yesterday, the Washington Post confirmed this point:
As CIA director, Mike Pompeo has taken a special interest in an agency unit that is closely tied to the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, requiring the Counterintelligence Mission Center to report directly to him.I can think of one possible parallel, although the similarities are very limited. Still, the history lesson may be of some use.
Officials at the center have, in turn, kept a watchful eye on Pompeo, who has repeatedly played down Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and demonstrated a willingness to engage in political skirmishes for President Trump.
Current and former officials said that the arrangement has been a source of apprehension among the CIA’s upper ranks and that they could not recall a time in the agency’s history when a director faced a comparable conflict.
In 1961, following the Bay of Pigs disaster, JFK asked for the resignation of Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles -- the man who, more than anyone else, shaped the CIA into what it is. The new DCI was John McCone, an industrialist -- and a Republican -- who had previously headed the Atomic Energy Commission. His knowledge of the covert world was, we may fairly say, limited -- especially when we compare McCone to a born spy like Dulles..
Many believe that McCone was little more than a figurehead during his three-and-a-half years at CIA, and that the Agency was really being run by those just below him in the hierarchy. A few have even suggested that Dulles continued to exert power behind the scenes. My personal belief is that Kennedy intended to put RFK in charge of the Agency after the election of 1964. Bobby would have been the new broom that sweeps clean.
Although a few scholars now question the commonly-accepted "McCone as figurehead" scenario, I still favor the view that McCone was kept ignorant of the CIA's more dubious activities.
Many years ago, I saw a declassified document from 1963 which arose out of the Inspector General's investigation of Operation Midnight Climax. Some of you may recall that insane experiment, in which the CIA took over several brothels and slipped LSD to the johns.
(The Inspector General is the CIA's version of a police department's internal affairs division. Incidentally, the documentation refers to the brothels as "safe houses," though they were anything but.)
When the IG told McCone about these acid-drenched sexual hijinx, McCone called Richard Helms into his office. Helms was the Deputy Director for Plans, which means that he was in charge of all covert operations.
Why didn't you tell me about this? McCone yelled.
Helms calmly answered: "Sir, I did tell you."
McCone responded that Helms had not informed him "in a way that turned on all the lights."
Nota bene: The reader must understand that I'm going on memory here; I haven't seen this particular document since the mid-1990s. But I have a reasonably distinct recollection of the phrase "turned on all the lights."
The use of that phrase tells us just what kind of DCI McCone was -- and what kind of underling Helms was. I doubt that Helms truly lied, but neither did he tell the truth. Obviously, the Deputy Director of Plans used subtle verbal trickery to keep the new boss in the dark.
I was reminded of that document while watching last night's Chris Hayes show, which included a discussion of the WP report on Pompeo and Russiagate. Obviously, the situation is worrisome: Pompeo is functioning as Trump's spy within CIA.
Quoting again from the WP:
Pompeo has not impeded that work, officials said. But several officials said there is concern about what he might do if the CIA uncovered new information potentially damaging to Trump and Pompeo were forced to choose between protecting the agency or the president.Of course he will. I would bet that Trump asked Pompeo for the same loyalty oath that shocked James Comey. I would also bet that Pompeo did not react the way Comey reacted.
“People have to watch him,” said a U.S. official who, like others, requested anonymity to speak frankly. “It’s almost as if he can’t resist the impulse to be political.”
A second former CIA official cited a “real concern for interference and politicization,” saying that the worry among some at the agency is “that if you were passing on something too dicey [to Pompeo] he would go to the White House with it.”
Richard Helms was a crafty, deceptive sunvabitch whom I have always considered a scoundrel. (He was eventually convicted of lying to Congress.) Yet now, for the first time, I find myself hoping that there are men like Helms within the current Agency. For the first time, I actually like the idea of a Company man who has mastered the art of "informing" the boss without turning on all the lights.
We live in strange times.
By the way: The man who holds Helms' position right now is one Greg Vogel, about whom very little is known. To civilians like you and me, he's a mystery. Wikipedia tells us that he was appointed to the position by Barack Obama during Obama's last year in office, and that he retains the job under Trump.
Interesting! Vogel seemingly personifies the "Deep State" that the right-wing conspiracy buffs keep squawking about.
From a 2015 NYT story...
Mr. Vogel, identified in news accounts as “Spider” and in a memoir by the former C.I.A. Director George J. Tenet as “Greg V.,” was one of the first C.I.A. officers to enter Afghanistan when the war began in 2001. He was credited during that time with saving the life of Hamid Karzai, the future Afghan president, during a bomb strike. He later served as the C.I.A. station chief in Kabul and eventually became the head of the agency’s Special Activities Division, which runs many paramilitary operations.My gut is making that grumbling sound again. Perhaps the Spider will one day play a role in Russiagate. The man once worked very hard to make sure the Russians left Afghanistan; one can only guess as to what he thinks about Russian aid to Donald Trump.
Mueller: Think STATE. Trump's pardon of the despicable Joe Arpaio has awakened many to a problem that has worried me for a while: The presidential power of the pardon makes Mueller's job much more difficult than many believe. In an organized crime case (which, in a sense, is what we're dealing with here), the usual tactic is to build a case against someone lower down on the food chain, who is told that jail awaits unless he rats out the Big Boss. That tactic won't work against Trump. Why would Manafort/Flynn/Stone/whomever say one word against the guy who can hand out those wonderful "Get out of jail free" cards?
A president cannot pardon a state-level offense. If Mueller is to be effective, he must build a case that he could bring to someone like NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
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In addition to state charges, consider that your right against self-incrimination goes right out the window with a pardon, unless there's a chance that some other jurisdiction could still bring charges against you. That then brings up the question of immunity, which, as you probably recall, is what saved the odious Oliver North. I am hopeful that Congress, especially the Democrats and any Republicans who might actually still believe in the rule of law, has learned that lesson and won't screw this up. I also hope for Eric Schneiderman's continued health and interest in doing his job. The whole thing has so many interlocked parts it feels like a bar exam question.
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