The CIA stated, not an exact quote, their job is not to mislead Congress.

The only reason this thread exits is because Pelosi has several versions of what she was told.

The CIA has one story.

 

Former Sen. Graham was quoted as saying that the story the CIA told about briefing him did not hold up to the truth test. He said they briefed him on 3 occasions that Sen Graham says did not happen.

The CIA holds way too many chips on those who would hold them accountable, to ever be held accountable.

 

Senator "You lied to us about the operation you were conducting in El Salvador!"

 

CIA Director "Yes, it was necessary to maintain the illusion of secrecy during a Top Secret mission. Incidentally, there is this interesting tape recording we have from the Marriott hotel last night. Isn't that where you stayed?"

 

Senator "Well, just don't lie to us anymore. Hearing adjourned!"

 

I think that's called "leverage," correct?

This just seems to be a diversion tactic. Talk about the CIA and not Pelosi, who is the one with the problem of truth telling.

 

Do we know?

Again, should the CIA be accountable and truthful with Congress at all times?

 

Yes.

For the record, the CIA does not work for Congress, the CIA reports to the President. However, since the Congress does hold the purse strings, they have over sight responsibility and therefore they can poke their nose into the CIA's business to a certain degree.

 

As far as should the CIA lie to Congress, that's a very good question. There should be some executive priviledge with the CIA, so the CIA should not be required to tell Congress everything. Otherwise, Congress would run the CIA and you have a separation of powers issue. So theoretically, there may be questions where the proper answer would be to politely decline to answer. However, practically speaking, it may be easier to lie than politely decline since some in Congress wouldn't be satisfied with a non-answer.

 

That said, as near as I can tell, the CIA isn't lying and Pelosi is.

An even better question: shouldn't Congress be truthful to the American public and always act, not in the best interest of their political careers, but rather always act in the best interest of this country?

 

Congress gets all miffed up when someone supposedly lies to them; yet they have some of the most prolific liars in the country in their ranks. They want to be respected, yet they do little to earn respect. They want to be told the truth, yet they don't themselves tell the truth. Hypocrits. They act like they are something special ( a quality of unfortunately a lot of politicians that absolutely drives me crazy).

 

Yes, to answer your question, the CIA should tell the truth to Congress. However, members of Congress have repeatedly breached their oath of confidentiality in the past and have thus created the situation where members of the military and intelligence communities do not trust them to keep their mouths shut.

 

:thumb:

 

As far as should the CIA lie to Congress, that's a very good question. .

 

Thank you.:banana: