Did the CIA Deliberately Lie to Congress?

Now this is a big story, if true: Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee accused the CIA of lying to Congress about classified actions, citing as their evidence recent testimony by the agency’s chief, Leon Panetta. Intel chairman Silvestre Reyes, in a letter sent to House Dem and GOP leadership, said the committee “has been misled, has not been provided full and complete notifications and (at least one case) has been affirmatively lied to.” (Here’s the letter, courtesy the Washington Post.) A separate letter signed by seven other Democrats on the Intel committee says Panetta recently told the panel in closed-door testimony on June 24th that the CIA had “misled members” and “concealed significant actions” from Congress for the last eight years. What actions are they specifically talking about? Democrats won’t say—but according to the Wall Street Journal, the CIA does confirm Panetta “took the initiative” to notify Congress about “lapses.” This comes on the heels of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s run-in with the CIA, where she said the agency intentionally misled her in a 2002 briefing on controversial interrogation techniques used against terrorism detainees. So is this vindication for Pelosi—or simply politics as usual? Your Gaggler asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs here in Italy if the White House or the president was aware of Panetta’s testimony, and if so, what the CIA director was referring to. Gibbs, who said he was only aware of the flap through news reports, didn’t have an immediate comment. But it’s notable that the letters, which were written late last month, become public just a day before the House prepares to take up a bill cracking down on executive powers. The White House has said Obama will veto the bill if it includes language proposed by the Democrats that would require the president to notify Intel committees in Congress about covert CIA activities in their “entirety.”