BREAKING NEWS: Dems - Panetta testified that the CIA misled Congress.

So we discover now that there was a programme - which no-one can tell us about - which existed from 2001 until the day before Panetta went up the hill to tell Congress that the CIA did, indeed, mislead them and that Congress was "not properly informed" regarding this mysterious programme.

How can Panetta say that Congress was not lied to when Congress asked if there were any programmes that they did not know about and were told that there was not? Even he admits that Congress was not properly informed, all Panetta is refusing to do is to acknowledge whether or not this misleading was deliberate.

And Panetta's strange denial, when he states that, "It is neither the policy nor the practice of the CIA to mislead Congress" he's not exactly denying it. He's simply saying it is not policy or the usual practice. That doesn't mean it didn't happen.



Here one of the letter signers explains how this played out. And she reminds us that the CIA have an obligation under the National Security Act of 1947 to fully - and in a timely way - inform Congress. That clearly hasn't happened here.

And just what was this programme if the people who heard of it were as stunned as they say they were?

Tags: CIA, Panetta, Congress