Shelby's MO (before he lost his security clearance): used NSA+CIA+FBI to go after political enemies

[kpete]

1. Richard Shelby's MO (before he lost his security clearance): use the NSA, CIA and FBI to go after political enemies. Go read this absolutely terrific 2007 piece by CQ's Jeff Stein that Zach Roth links to. Damned if the Stein piece doesn't perfectly capture -- and recognize as such -- just the kind of abuse of power that is at work in the Harman case too:

*** “Shelby hated Tenet,” said another former CIA station chief. “Shelby would come through town and ask for dirt about Tenet. He made no secret of that. He always said, ‘I’m going to get you a new director.’”

Tenet got back at Shelby in a little-noticed passage in his memoir.

He recounted how, in December 1996, shortly after President Bill Clinton nominated his national security advisor Anthony Lake to be CIA director, Shelby approached him after a committee briefing. (Tenet was then deputy director.)

“George, he drawled,” according to Tenet, “if you have any dirt on Tony Lake, I sure would like to have it.”

Tenet was taken aback, he wrote, because he and Lake were friends.

Tenet also wrote that, “National Security Agency officials told us that Shelby staffers had been asking whether there was derogatory information in their communications intercepts on Lake.”

more much more:
http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/009198.html

[MadMaddie]

1. This is more evidence that the Repugs were beyond out

of control. If they were going after political enemies or those they considered friends....what were they doing to average Americans.

[Demeter]

3. ENSLAVEMENT.

Nothing less than serfdom for those "non-elites"

[KeepItReal]

2. K&R

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