COVERT OPS

Cheney's Secret Al Qaeda Plans

Ordered CIA to find ways to kill leaders.

It didn't take long for details about the mysterious program that Dick Cheney hid from Congress to find their way into the press. The ultra-secret program involved an executive order to capture or kill higher-ups in al Qaeda, The Wall Street Journal reports. Although the program was authorized in 2001, it had not become fully operational when CIA Chief Leon Panetta ended it this June. Much of the initiative remains unclear; the controversy surrounding it—thus far—is focused on the decision to not inform Congress. It appears that the CIA recognized that parts of the plan, which involved targeted assassinations, were not feasible. The Journal cites an unnamed source who described the plan's ambition: "It was straight out of the movies. It was like: Let's kill them all."