Senior Obama Official Backs Cheney and C.I.A., Says Concealment of Assassin Program Legal

National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair’s comments contradict the assertions of several leading Democrats that laws were broken.

By Jeremy Scahill

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are preparing to hold hearings to investigate the role of vice president Dick Cheney in allegedly ordering the C.I.A. to conceal a secret assassination program from Congress. As I reported yesterday, there are two crucial issues at play: the nature of the U.S. assassination program and the role of former vice president Dick Cheney in concealing aspects of it from Congressional oversight. On the broader issue of U.S. government assassination, it is very unlikely that will become a central focus given that there has long been a bipartisan assassination program that continues under President Obama. Indeed, most legislators frame their opposition to this program through the lens of the concealment issue, not the assassinations.