Our secret squirrels don’t seem very secretive

Have I read too many spy novels, or does our INTEL community not exercise proper discretion?

First, the background:

Judges in Italy are expected to hand down a verdict Wednesday in the first-ever trial examining the practice known as extraordinary rendition.

Twenty-six Americans, mostly CIA agents, are being tried in absentia. Together with seven Italians, they are charged with kidnapping a Muslim cleric who was taken to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.

I’m actually not a huge fan of rendition in general. I know we have to do it sometimes to get these assclowns off the street, and that the US can’t always handle what needs doing. Totally get it, don’t like it, but get it. This, however, kind of set me off:

Court documents showed that the Abu Omar kidnapping was expensive and sloppy. The CIA suspects were tracked down thanks to cell phone calls made near the abduction site, and credit card payments showing car rental and hotel bills totaling more than $150,000.

Prosecutors allege that the agents’ carelessness derived from their sense of impunity.

Everyone made a huge case out of the Plame thing, when she was “covert.” Putting aside that case, what the hell does covert mean anymore when Italien lawyers can track down the names of these guys? I thought Agents were supposed to be all secretive and shit? Call me crazy, but it seems that unfaithful husbands are better at disguising their tracks than these guys. Isn’t the idea to blend in? How long were they operating in the area to spend $150,000?

I have a buddy that works for an acronym agency. He says I would be shocked and dejected at the density of the morons that work there. So, someone tell me I am wrong. I know not every one of these guys and gals will be 007, but this seems absurd.

On a good note, at least Branum wasn’t defending them. They’d have been caned by now.

Category: Politics