Mystery surrounds Cheney's secret CIA program
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Secret ops: Dick Cheney is under scrutiny for his role in keping the CIA program under wraps (Getty Images: Win McNamee)
Senior US Democrats are questioning whether the Bush administration broke the law by concealing a CIA counter-terrorism program.
Democrats are accusing former vice-president Dick Cheney of abusing his power by reportedly telling the CIA not to speak about a secret counter-terrorism program during Congressional intelligence oversight committees.
When new CIA director Leon Panetta found out about the eight-year-old program last month, he immediately stopped it and told some members of Congress about it.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein says when Mr Panetta found out, he went straight to the House and Senate intelligence committees.
"[He] said he had just learned about the program, described it to us, and indicated that he had cancelled it," she said.
"[He] did tell us that he was told that the vice-president [Mr Cheney] had ordered that the program not be briefed to the Congress."
Mr Panetta has been in the Philippines for a meeting with that country's president.
But he has had time to launch an internal probe into why the CIA did not tell anyone in Congress about its secret program.
Under US law, the Congressional intelligence committees are supposed to be kept "fully and currently" informed about intelligence activities.
Republican Senator Jon Cornyn agrees the CIA should not have kept the program under wraps.
"To trot out the vice-president and say he's the one that's at fault, this ... unfortunately sounds like a new theme where they still want to blame the Bush-Cheney administration," he said.
Program a mystery
The precise nature of the still highly secret program is not known.
And to add to the mystery, Democrats who have now been briefed about the still unidentified program say it had "international implications".
It apparently did not involve interrogations or surveillance of US based communications, but no one is saying publicly what the intelligence-gathering effort did entail.
Democrat Silvestre Reyes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said it was a highly classified program.
"What I can tell you is that this ... had been in place since right after the attacks of [September 11, 2001] and involved a worldwide effort," he said.
"It is a highly classified program that has very serious international implications."
Mr Cheney has always been a fierce defender of the Government's secrets.
But even former Republican Presidential nominee John McCain says he should explain his role in the unidentified program.
"The vice-president, I think, should obviously be heard from if the accusations are levelled in his direction," he said.
"This is the beginning of a pretty involved and detailed story and I don't have enough information, but I think there's a lot more to come on this."
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