Smelling the possibility of some political advantage leading up to the 2008 election, Democrats practically tripped over themselves getting up to the microphones to express their “outrage” over the revelation that the CIA had erased tapes of the interrogations of top terrorists. (Chicago Tribune, Toronto Star) In one of the few (known) intelligence successes of the post 9-11 era, these interrogations produced information that was “actionable,” accurate and resulted in the disruption of terrorist activities.

The CIA’s stated rationale for erasing the tapes was to protect the identity of the agents involved in the interrogation. This certainly seems reasonable given the fact the e-mail written by the agency’s director, Michael Hayden, to explain the erasure to CIA personnel was in the hands of the Associated Press within hours of distribution at Langley. (The Register) However, he neglected to mention that agents would need not only protection from al-Qaeda, but also several American Senators, Congressman, and left-wing activists.