Investigation of CIA Agent Photos Found in Guantanamo Detainee Cells
| Wants to know what measures have been taken to ensure investigation is free of politics, conflicts of interest
WASHINGTON D.C. –Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has asked Attorney General Eric Holder for more details on press reports that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has been asked to investigate whether attorneys defending terrorist suspects currently held at Guantanamo Bay provided photographs of CIA employees to their clients.
“Defense attorneys for terrorists have allegedly shown these photographs to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay,” said Issa. “The apparent purpose of this effort is to allow the detainees to identify covert intelligence operatives with whom they may have been in contact with at Guantanamo…If terrorists at Guantanamo have learned the secret identity of agency operatives, the safety of the operatives and their families could be at risk.” In the letter, Issa asks the Attorney General to provide information about reports that Patrick Fitzgerald has been asked to investigate the photos of CIA operatives, and if so, what resources within DOJ will be made available to Fitzgerald to conduct the inquiry. Additionally, Issa asks Holder what arrangements have been made to ensure that political appointees in the Department of Justice who may have conflicts of interest based on previous involvement with the issues under investigation prior to their appointment at DOJ. “I am certain you are eager to establish other arrangements which make a distinction between those Department appointees who earlier performed legal work for detainees from any attorneys potentially implicated in the investigation about the photographs,” Issa wrote. Click here to read the letter
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