Headlines We Don't See
A singular, astonishing and apparently unprecedented event occurred on Friday. The FBI raided CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Think about that for a moment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is gathering evidence of crimes so momentous, it sent agents into the sanctum sanctorum of the United States Intelligence Community.
Not that you'd ever know it from the media coverage. Almost universally, TV and newspaper reports are couched in the jargon of law enforcement. The Bureau, we are told, was "executing search warrants" at a home and an office in suburban Virginia. Buried very deep in the reporting is the information that the office was inside the CIA. And almost as an afterthought, we are informed the home belongs to Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, a career CIA official who runs the agency's day-to-day operations.
"Executing search warrants" is cop-talk for "raid". When the G-men kick in the doors of an Italian-American social club, they are "executing search warrants". When ATF agents stormed the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, armed with assault rifles and shielded by body armor, they were "executing search warrants".
When reporters characterize the FBI operations in Virginia in those terms, they are, in effect, concealing the truth. Fortunately, Mark Sherman of the Associated Press wasn't afraid to call a raid a raid (and the Houston Chronicle wasn't afraid to print his account):
"A growing contracting scandal took a dramatic turn at the CIA with raids on the office and home of the agency's departing No. 3 official...Investigators from five federal agencies acted under search warrants at Foggo's home in Vienna, Va., and his office at the CIA's Langley, Va., campus." http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3861114.html
I can't think of another instance in the history of the CIA that federal agents have shown up with search warrants. Lord knows, there have been sufficient reasons over the years to send the feds into the bowels of Langley, but I can't recall it actually happening. (I would appreciate anyone correcting my recollection on this point.)
Despite the extraordinary nature of Friday's events, I haven't found a single media outlet that boiled them down to the simple, declarative phrase, "FBI Radis CIA". Even the Houston paper cited above weaseled out on the headline ("Feds Search Home, Office of CIA Official"). Time was -- not so very long ago -- no newspaper editor in America could have resisted the short, eye-grabbing headline "FBI Raids CIA". In this day of 24-hour cable TV news with its screen-crowding headline crawls, the punchy, three word phrase would be a natural. Yet it never appeared.
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. In December, President Bush, for the first time in his presidency, delivered his weekly radio address on live television. During that speech, he revealed that he had ordered the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American citizens without search warrants on more than 30 occasions. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (even as amended after 9/11) makes electronic eavesdropping on American citizens without a search warrant a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. So when Bush confirmed he had ordered the surveillance, he was admitting he had committed at least 30 felonies, and is liable for up to 150 years in prison. (The potential sentence is much higher, since each individual illegal wiretap authorized is a separate offense, and there were apparently hundreds authorized each time Bush gave the order.)
I watched Bush's performance that day in utter astonishment. Never before has any president of the United States publicly declared he has violated the U.S. Criminal Code. Even Richard Nixon went to his grave professing his innocence. Ronald Reagan never even entertained the notion that his illegal activities (lumped together under the catch-all title "Iran-Contra") might somehow have run afoul of the law. Not even Warren Harding had the hubris to stand up before the American people and admit that he -- and his Cabinet officers -- were felons.
But George Bush did. Not only did he confess his crimes, Bush proudly proclaimed he would keep committing them, and asserted that no one could stop him. What a headline that would have made! Alas, it never appeared, in the U.S. print or broadcast media. How could they resist, I wonder, these defenders of "the truth without fear or favor"? Think of the papers it would have sold. Imagine the ratings spike. I can even see it now -- a glitzy animation with appropriately stately drum-and-bugle background music, a rippling Stars and Stripes emblazoned with the words:
Not that you'd ever know it from the media coverage. Almost universally, TV and newspaper reports are couched in the jargon of law enforcement. The Bureau, we are told, was "executing search warrants" at a home and an office in suburban Virginia. Buried very deep in the reporting is the information that the office was inside the CIA. And almost as an afterthought, we are informed the home belongs to Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, a career CIA official who runs the agency's day-to-day operations.
"Executing search warrants" is cop-talk for "raid". When the G-men kick in the doors of an Italian-American social club, they are "executing search warrants". When ATF agents stormed the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, armed with assault rifles and shielded by body armor, they were "executing search warrants".
When reporters characterize the FBI operations in Virginia in those terms, they are, in effect, concealing the truth. Fortunately, Mark Sherman of the Associated Press wasn't afraid to call a raid a raid (and the Houston Chronicle wasn't afraid to print his account):
"A growing contracting scandal took a dramatic turn at the CIA with raids on the office and home of the agency's departing No. 3 official...Investigators from five federal agencies acted under search warrants at Foggo's home in Vienna, Va., and his office at the CIA's Langley, Va., campus." http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3861114.html
I can't think of another instance in the history of the CIA that federal agents have shown up with search warrants. Lord knows, there have been sufficient reasons over the years to send the feds into the bowels of Langley, but I can't recall it actually happening. (I would appreciate anyone correcting my recollection on this point.)
Despite the extraordinary nature of Friday's events, I haven't found a single media outlet that boiled them down to the simple, declarative phrase, "FBI Radis CIA". Even the Houston paper cited above weaseled out on the headline ("Feds Search Home, Office of CIA Official"). Time was -- not so very long ago -- no newspaper editor in America could have resisted the short, eye-grabbing headline "FBI Raids CIA". In this day of 24-hour cable TV news with its screen-crowding headline crawls, the punchy, three word phrase would be a natural. Yet it never appeared.
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. In December, President Bush, for the first time in his presidency, delivered his weekly radio address on live television. During that speech, he revealed that he had ordered the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American citizens without search warrants on more than 30 occasions. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (even as amended after 9/11) makes electronic eavesdropping on American citizens without a search warrant a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. So when Bush confirmed he had ordered the surveillance, he was admitting he had committed at least 30 felonies, and is liable for up to 150 years in prison. (The potential sentence is much higher, since each individual illegal wiretap authorized is a separate offense, and there were apparently hundreds authorized each time Bush gave the order.)
I watched Bush's performance that day in utter astonishment. Never before has any president of the United States publicly declared he has violated the U.S. Criminal Code. Even Richard Nixon went to his grave professing his innocence. Ronald Reagan never even entertained the notion that his illegal activities (lumped together under the catch-all title "Iran-Contra") might somehow have run afoul of the law. Not even Warren Harding had the hubris to stand up before the American people and admit that he -- and his Cabinet officers -- were felons.
But George Bush did. Not only did he confess his crimes, Bush proudly proclaimed he would keep committing them, and asserted that no one could stop him. What a headline that would have made! Alas, it never appeared, in the U.S. print or broadcast media. How could they resist, I wonder, these defenders of "the truth without fear or favor"? Think of the papers it would have sold. Imagine the ratings spike. I can even see it now -- a glitzy animation with appropriately stately drum-and-bugle background music, a rippling Stars and Stripes emblazoned with the words:
Bush Confesses
But it was not to be. Our media companies have become so timerous in the face of government authority that they dare not speak truth to power. Or even, it seems, to the powerless -- the American people.
posted by wally at 10:19 AM
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