Old media mantra: We must investigate everything to make sure that democracy was not subverted
New media mantra: How dare you investigate anyone to find out if democracy was subverted?
The interview plans are the latest sign the Justice Department will take a critical look at the C.I.A.’s work on Russia’s election interference. Investigators want to talk with at least one senior counterintelligence official and a senior C.I.A. analyst, the people said. Both officials were involved in the agency’s work on understanding the Russian campaign to sabotage the election in 2016.
While the Justice Department review is not a criminal inquiry, it has provoked anxiety in the ranks of the C.I.A., according to former officials.
Let me quote dozens of New York Times statements about the Mueller inquiry:
What reason hath an innocent man have to fear an investigation?
Senior agency officials have questioned why the C.I.A’s analytical work should be subjected to a federal prosecutor’s scrutiny.
Let me quote the New York Times again:
No man, no matter how high-ranking in government, should be above the law.
…
Justice Department officials have given only broad clues about the review but did note that it is focused on the period leading up to the 2016 vote. Mr. Barr has been interested in how the C.I.A. drew its conclusions about Russia’s election sabotage, particularly the judgment that Mr. Putin ordered that operatives help Mr. Trump by discrediting his opponent, Hillary Clinton, according to current and former American officials.…Mr. Barr wants to know more about the C.I.A. sources who helped inform its understanding of the details of the Russian interference campaign, an official has said. He also wants to better understand the intelligence that flowed from the C.I.A. to the F.B.I. in the summer of 2016.
…The review is unlikely to be confined only to the activities of the F.B.I. and C.I.A. It could also look into the work of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and other agencies.
Oh, hello, James Clapper.
…The C.I.A. focuses on foreign intelligence and is not supposed to investigate Americans suspected of wrongdoing. It is supposed to pass on to the F.B.I. any information it acquires in the course of its espionage work about the actions of Americans.
And there’s more: