It's going to be very interesting to see how the fight between President-elect
Trump and the CIA comes out. Trump obviously believes that he's going to be in
charge of the federal government when he takes office. He is in for rude
awakening.
What all too many Americans simply do not want to confront is the fact when
the national-security establishment was called into existence in the 1940s, it
fundamentally altered America's constitutional government structure in such a
way that the military, the CIA, and, later the NSA, ended up becoming the most
powerful branch of the federal government.
Yes, I know, all of us are taught in our public schools the standard line —
that the federal government is divided into three branches — the legislative
(Congress), the judicial, and the executive (the president).
It's true that that was how the Constitution set up the original structure of
the federal government. But all that changed with the conversion of the
federal government to a national-security state. For all practical purposes,
the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA — the principal components of the
national-security establishment — became a fourth branch of government and
ultimately the most powerful branch.
For anyone who hasn't read the book National Security and Double Government by
Michael Glennon, a professor at Tufts, I cannot recommend it too highly.
Glennon clearly gets it. He makes a clear and convincing case that the
national-security establishment is who is really in charge of the federal
government. It just permits the other three branches to maintain the pretense
of being in charge.
Many years ago, President Richard Nixon declared, ''When the President does
it, that means it's not illegal.'' Of course, most Americans would dispute
that. They would say that the president is subject to the law, just like
everyone else.
Not so with the CIA, however. What few wish to confront is that the CIA is the
law. When the CIA does it, it's not illegal.
Consider 18 U.S. Code Section 956. It holds that anyone who conspires to kill,
kidnap, maim, or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country is
guilty of a felony, with punishment being life imprisonment if the conspiracy
is to murder or kidnap and 35 years in jail if the conspiracy is to maim. It
was enacted in 1948.
In 2003 a team of CIA agents kidnapped a man in Italy and forcibly transported
and delivered him to Egypt to be tortured. Some of the agents were convicted
of kidnapping in Italy. It is a virtual certainty, however, that the
kidnapping conspiracy originated here in the United States, specifically at
CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Were any CIA officials subpoenaed to appear and testify before a federal grand
jury? Were grand jury indictments issued? Of course not. That's because
subpoenas have to be enforced by U.S. Marshals, who lack the firepower that
the CIA has, especially when backed by the 82nd Airborne Division and other
units within the military establishment. Thus, despite the clear language of
the federal conspiracy statute, the Justice Department doesn't even think of
instituting criminal charges against the CIA. The CIA is the law. Nothing it
does is permitted to be considered to be illegal.
Or consider the CIA's kidnapping of Maher Arar. He was a Canadian citizen who
was simply changing plane at Dulles Airport in Virginia on his way back home
to Canada. The CIA kidnapped him and forcibly transported him against his will
to Jordan, where he was turned over the Syrian agents (Yes, that Syria!) for
interrogation under torture. The CIA said that it was merely deporting him
given that he had been born a Syrian citizen. Really? Then why not deport him
to Canada, where he was headed and where he had acquired citizenship? Needless
to say, there were no indictments or grand-jury subpoenas issued or served on
CIA officials for violations of 18 U.S. Code Section 365.
Many years ago, U.S. officials here in the United States conspired to kidnap a
Chilean man named Rene Schneider, who was serving as head of the Chilean armed
forces. The reason? Schneider was standing in the way of U.S.-desired military
coup that would prevent a democratically elected communist-socialist
president, Salvador Allende, from coming into power. Pursuant to the
kidnapping conspiracy, the CIA smuggled high-powered weapons into the country
under diplomatic pouch.
During the kidnapping attempt, Schneider fought back and was shot dead. The
CIA was later found to have paid hush money to the kidnappers-murderers.
Needless to say, no subpoenas or grand-jury indictments were ever issued or
served on the conspirators.
When Schneider's heirs filed suit for the wrongful death of their father, the
federal courts summarily dismissed their cases. As a practical matter, the
courts undoubtedly understood that there was no way that they had the power
(which consisted of U.S. Marshals) to enforce court orders and judgments
against the CIA.
During the Chilean coup of 1973, which the CIA and other parts of the U.S.
government had helped to instigate, two Americans, Charles Horman and Frank
Teruggi, were murdered by Chilean military officials. Some years later, a
State Department memo was released stating that an official (and secret)
investigation had revealed that U.S. intelligence had played a role in their
murders. Since it is inconceivable that U.S agents in Chile would authorize
the killing of two American citizens in a foreign country without getting
approval of superiors in Washington and Virginia, the conspiracy to kill
Horman and Teruggi almost certainly was centered in and Washington (where the
executive branch of the federal government is located) and Virginia (where the
CIA and Pentagon are located).
Once again, no subpoenas or grand-jury indictments. Moreover, when the Horman
family filed suit, the federal judiciary gave them the same treatment that it
gave the Schneider family. Suit dismissed.
Consider the CIA's conspiracy, in conjunction with the Mafia, to murder Cuban
President Fidel Castro, and the CIA's conspiracy to initiate acts of sabotage
and terrorism within Cuba. Once again, no subpoenas or indictments.
The reality is that the CIA, along with the military and the NSA, is simply
too powerful, something that the federal courts and Congress are fully aware
of. Within a few weeks, Donald Trump will encounter that reality.
Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom
Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in
economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the
University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He
also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught
law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become
director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has
advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the
country as well as on Fox News' Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and
he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano's show
Freedom Watch. View these interviews at LewRockwell.com and from Full
Context.
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