Judge rips CIA

I was distracted yesterday so doing a little catchup this morning, a federal district judge cracked down on the CIA on Monday, raging from the bench about the court having been repeatedly misled by their abuse of state's secrets privilege.

Lambert also questioned the credibility of current CIA Director Leon Panetta, saying that Panetta's testimony in the case contained significant discrepancies, and rejected an Obama administration request that the case continue to be kept secret. He released hundreds of previously secret filings.

"The court does not give the government a high degree of deference because of its prior misrepresentations regarding the stated secrets privilege in this case," Lamberth wrote. "Although this case has been sealed since its inception to protect sensitive information, it is clear . . . that many of the issues are unclassified."

The case, filed in 1994 by a former DEA agent, alleges the agent was illegally wiretapped while on duty in Burma. The government has been trying to quash it from the beginning with Clinton and Bush, and now Obama, seeking "dismissal on national security grounds." The judge was particularly torqued over the CIA's failure to disclose until 2008 that the agent had his cover lifted in 2002. He accused the CIA's attorneys of engaging in a "fraud on the court."

"Lambert had dismissed the case in 2004, citing Brown's undercover status. An appeals court overturned that decision." Hell hath no fury like a judge made to look like a dupe.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]