The CIA responds to Seymour Hersh

By Eric Black

"Utter nonsense," is the quote from CIA spokester George Little.

In case you're out of context, I wrote yesterday about comments famed investigative reporter Seymour Hersh made Tuesday night at the U of M, which included a description of a story he is working on that he said would show that "the Central Intelligence Agency was very deeply involved in domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. Without any legal authority for it. They haven't been called on it yet. That does happen."

CIA spokester Little emailed me:

"I saw your story on Seymour Hersh's recent allegations regarding CIA activities since 9/11.  If you wish, you can attribute the quoted portion that follows to me, in name, as a CIA spokesman:

'This is utter nonsense.'"

I spoke to Little to clarify whether he was aware of the basis for Hersh's statement (which I am not, only that it's based on his reporting) or whether he was categorically stating that nothing the CIA has done post-9/11 could be reasonably characterized as domestic activities against people they thought to be enemies of the state. He said it was a categorical denial. He doesn't know what Hersh claims, but any claim that the CIA has engaged in domestic spying is "complete and utter nonsense," saith Little on behalf of the CIA.

http://www.minnpost.com/ericblackblog/2009/03/12/7344/the_cia_responds_to_seymour_hersh_via_minnpost