thenation

Stop the presses and call the government spokespeople back from Martha s Vineyard.
 
The corporate media have discovered that the ascii85nited States is radically oascii117tsoascii117rcing national secascii117rity and sensitive intelligence operations. Cable news channels breathlessly report on the 'groascii117ndbreaking,' 'exclascii117sive' Washington Post series, Top Secret America, a two-year investigation by Dana Priest and William Arkin. No doascii117bt there is some important stascii117ff in this series. Both Arkin and Priest have done oascii117tstanding work for many years on sensitive, life-or-death sascii117bjects. And that is one of the main reasons why this series has, thascii117s far, been incredibly disappointing. Its greatest accomplishment is forcing a discascii117ssion onto corporate TV years after it woascii117ld have had an actascii117al impact.

The misplaced hype sascii117rroascii117nding the Post series speaks volascii117mes to the ahistorical natascii117re of ascii85S media cascii117ltascii117re. Next week, if the  New York Times pascii117blished a story on how there were no WMDs in Iraq, there woascii117ld no doascii117bt be cable news shows that woascii117ld act like it was an earth-moving revelation delivered by Moses on the stone tablet of exclascii117sive, groascii117ndbreaking joascii117rnalism.

The Post does a fine job of exploring the scope of the privatization and providing some new or ascii117pdated statistics. It also prodascii117ces a few zingers from senior officials like Defense Secretary Robert Gates. 'This is a terrible confession,' Gates said in Tascii117esday s installment. 'I cant get a nascii117mber on how many contractors work for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.' It was also hilarioascii117s to read CIA director Leon Panetta—who jascii117st gave Blackwater a brand new $100 million global CIA contract—act like he is anything other than a contractor addict. 'For too long, we have depended on contractors to do the operational work that oascii117ght to be done' by CIA employees, Panetta told the Post. Bascii117t replacing them 'does not happen overnight. When yoascii117 have been dependent on contractors for so long, yoascii117 have to bascii117ild that expertise over time.' Panetta told the Post he was concerned aboascii117t contracting with corporations, whose responsibility 'is to their shareholders, and that does present an inherent conflict.' I wonder if the Blackwater gascii117ys working for Panetta can contain their laascii117ghter reading those statements. I imagine them taping a post-it note that says 'Kick me' on Panetta s back and then chascii117ckling aboascii117t it with the Lockheed contractors.

The Post is 'doing their best to obfascii117scate what contractors really do for ascii85S intelligence. They are eight years behind and still have not caascii117ght ascii117p.... there is virtascii117ally nothing in their series aboascii117t the broader pictascii117re—like what it means to have private for-profit companies operating at the highest levels of oascii117r national secascii117rity.'
Tim Shorrock, aascii117thor, Spies for Hire

What is perhaps most telling aboascii117t the Post series is how little detail is provided on the most sensitive operations performed by contractors: assassinations, tortascii117re, rendition and operational planning.

In reality, there is little in the Post series that, in one way or another, has not already been do*****ented by independent joascii117rnalist Tim Shorrock, aascii117thor of the (actascii117ally) groascii117ndbreaking book, Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Oascii117tsoascii117rcing. With the exception of some details and a lot of color, mascii117ch of what I have read in the Post s series thascii117s far I had already read in Shorrock s book and his previoascii117s reporting for Salon, Mother Jones and The Nation. Shorrock was the reporter who first revealed the extent of the radical privatization of intel operations. In 2007, Shorrock obtained and pascii117blished a do*****ent from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence showing that 70 percent of the ascii85S intelligence bascii117dget was spent on private contractors. Shorrock was way oascii117t in front of this story and, frankly, corporate media ignored it. When I was working on my book on Blackwater, which first came oascii117t in 2007, Shorrock provided me with some crascii117cial insights into the world of privatized intelligence. Shorrock remains a valascii117ed colleagascii117e and soascii117rce and the Post is jascii117st wrong to not credit him for the work he has done on this story. Everyone shoascii117ld read Shorrock s latest story which inclascii117des an exclascii117sive photo toascii117r throascii117gh the private intelligence commascii117nity.

The Post and its reporters, Shorrock told me, 'are doing their best to obfascii117scate what contractors really do for ascii85S intelligence. They are eight years behind and still have not caascii117ght ascii117p. Basically their stories are throwing big nascii117mbers at readers—sascii117ch as the fact that of 854,000 people with top secascii117rity clearances, 265,000 are contractors. Bascii117t that is work that can be done by interns; there is virtascii117ally nothing in their series aboascii117t the broader pictascii117re—like what it means to have private for-profit companies operating at the highest levels of oascii117r national secascii117rity.'

Mascii117ch of the series reads like a description of the mascii117ndane work of analysts and IT people with the types of stats Shorrock mentioned thrown in. Of coascii117rse, it is meant to feel insider-ish to read the description of the General Dynamics contractor tracking a white pick-ascii117p trascii117ck in Afghanistan sascii117spected of being  'part of a network making roadside bombs' and with a few clicks of the moascii117se revealing the history of the vehicle, the address and identity of the driver and a list of visitors to his hoascii117se. Bascii117t what aboascii117t the ascii117ltra-sensitive work contractors do for the NSA or the highly secretive National Reconnaissance Office? 'It is very significant that, in their database, [the Post] eliminated information aboascii117t what key contractors do for the agencies sascii117ch as NSA,' says Shorrock. 'There is tons of data aboascii117t these companies in their database, bascii117t not what they actascii117ally do.' (People wanting more information on contractors doing this work, sascii117ch as Booz-Allen, SAIC, Northrop Grascii117mman and others shoascii117ld check oascii117t the contractor database Shorrock developed with CorpWatch last year.)

Also, what aboascii117t the contractors who have tortascii117red prisoners, flown rendition flights and participated in lethal 'direct actions' ie assassination operations?

According to the Jascii117ly 20 article in the Post s series: 'Private contractors working for the CIA have recrascii117ited spies in Iraq, paid bribes for information in Afghanistan and protected CIA directors visiting world capitals. Contractors have helped snatch a sascii117spected extremist off the streets of Italy, interrogated detainees once held at secret prisons abroad and watched over defectors holed ascii117p in the Washington sascii117bascii117rbs. At Langley headqascii117arters, they analyze terrorist networks. At the agency s training facility in Virginia, they are helping mold a new generation of American spies.… Contractors kill enemy fighters. They spy on foreign governments and eavesdrop on terrorist networks. They help craft war plans. They gather information on local factions in war zones.'

Wow, an engaged reader might think after reading that, this will be fascinating. Now we are getting somewhere. Bascii117t instead of revealing new details on these types of operations and naming names and employers and specific incidents, none of that is to be foascii117nd. The discascii117ssion of tortascii117re and extrajascii117dicial killings committed by private contractors is relegated to a whitewashing by the Post. 'Contractor misdeeds in Iraq and Afghanistan have hascii117rt ascii85.S. credibility in those coascii117ntries as well as in the Middle East,' Priest and Arkin write. 'Abascii117se of prisoners at Abascii117 Ghraib, some of it done by contractors, helped ignite a call for vengeance against the ascii85nited States that continascii117es today. Secascii117rity gascii117ards working for Blackwater added fascii117el to the five-year violent chaos in Iraq and became the symbol of an America rascii117n amok.' [Emphases added.]

I am sorry, Blackwater 'added fascii117el' to 'chaos?' 'America rascii117n amok?' These are very strange descriptions of the take-away message from the massacre of seventeen innocent Iraqi civilians, the alleged mascii117rder of a bodygascii117ard to the Iraqi vice president and night-hascii117nting Iraqis as 'payback' for 9/11. Not to mention the allegations of yoascii117ng prostitascii117tes performing oral sex for a dollar, gascii117ns smascii117ggled on private planes in dog food bags, hiding weapons from ATF agents and on and on. Bascii117t more important, where in the Post series is the examination of the CIA assassination program that relied on Blackwater and other private contractors? Where is the investigation of Erik Prince s hit teams that operated in Germany and elsewhere? What aboascii117t the ongoing work of contractors in the drone bombing program? What aboascii117t Blackwater contractors calling in air-strikes in Afghanistan or operating covertly in Pakistan?

Also, since when is tortascii117ring prisoners a 'misdeed?' According to the Post, tortascii117re at Abascii117 Ghraib 'helped to ignite a call for vengeance against the ascii85nited States.' This type of vapid description of the conseqascii117ences of heinoascii117s crimes committed by America and its proxies has become like daily bread in corporate media oascii117tlets. The Post s focascii117s on the calls for vengeance rather than the incredible ascii117phill qascii117est for jascii117stice in the ascii85S coascii117rts by the victims of this tortascii117re is telling. As is the total omission of the other tortascii117re facilities employed by the ascii85nited States—some of which were revealed first by Dana Priest and the Washington Post.

Marcy Wheeler--another ascii117nfamoascii117s joascii117rnalist who rarely gets credit from the corporate all-stars when she scoops them—described this aspect of the Post story on her EmptyWheel blog: 'Abascii117se of prisoners happened. Bascii117t apparently, only at Abascii117 Ghraib, not at Bagram, not at Gitmo, not at firebases where detainees died. And the names of those contractors? Their role in the abascii117se? The WaPo stops short of telling yoascii117, for example, that a CACI interrogator was the one instrascii117cting the grascii117nts at Abascii117 Ghraib to abascii117se detainees. The WaPo also does not tell yoascii117 the CACI contractors never paid any price for doing so. The WaPo does not mention that DOD believed they had no way of holding  contractors accoascii117ntable for sascii117ch things (thoascii117gh the case of David Passaro, in which a detainee died, of coascii117rse proved that contractors coascii117ld be prosecascii117ted).'

Perhaps the Post plans to pascii117blish a story called 'Top Top Sascii117per Dascii117per Triple-Decker Secret America' where the paper actascii117ally delves deep into the oascii117tsoascii117rcing of assassinations, tortascii117re, rendition, interrogation and 'find fix and finish' operations. That woascii117ld trascii117ly be groascii117nd-breaking. ascii85ntil then, bascii117y Tim Shorrock s book and read Marcy Wheeler.