CIA chief: 'Ignore the noise'
Posted: Friday, May 15, 2009 2:48 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Congress, Security, Andrea Mitchell
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Mark Murray
In a statement to agency employees regarding the back-and-forth with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, CIA Director Leon Panetta tells them to ignore the political controversy.
"My advice -- indeed, my direction -- to you is straightforward: ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission. We have too much work to do to be distracted from our job of protecting this country. We are an Agency of high integrity, professionalism, and dedication. Our task is to tell it like it is -- even if that's not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it."
Video: CIA Director Leon Panetta says officials from his agency "truthfully" briefed lawmakers on interrogation methods in 2002, countering House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claims. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.Yet also in the statement, he appears to take Pelosi's charge head on. "Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing "the enhanced techniques that had been employed." Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened."
Below is the full memo.
Message from the Director: Turning Down the Volume
There is a long tradition in Washington of making political hay out of our business. It predates my service with this great institution, and it will be around long after I'm gone. But the political debates about interrogation reached a new decibel level yesterday when the CIA was accused of misleading Congress.
Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing "the enhanced techniques that had been employed." Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened.
My advice-indeed, my direction-to you is straightforward: ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission. We have too much work to do to be distracted from our job of protecting this country.
We are an Agency of high integrity, professionalism, and dedication. Our task is to tell it like it is-even if that's not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it.
Leon E. Panetta
