Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA Read Online Free PDF Page A

tapes. I tried to convey fully and fairly the reasons why they felt so strongly about the issue, because I thought our people deserved that. Finally, I noted the strong opposition to destruction expressed by DNI Negroponte.
    The reaction I got was predictable. Addington, a longtime friend who had worked for me at the CIA years earlier, vigorously asserted (he was not a man to mince words) that he had told Scott Muller a year before that destroying the tapes was a terrible idea and, by God, he still strongly thought so. Levin, a low-key but first-rate lawyer with prior White House and Justice Department experience, said little if anything; he was entirely new to the issue and the expression on his face was somewhere between incredulous and appalled. Harriet Miers was typically calm and meticulous, taking notes and asking a few follow-up questions. Still, she echoed Addington’s sentiments, albeit a good deal more quietly. She stopped short of saying that the tapes should never be destroyed, but the message from the White House remained clear: Do not do anything to the tapes before coming back here first.

    I reported back to Porter as soon as I returned to Langley. He was neither surprised nor upset by the White House’s reaction. I then told Jose and his chief of staff (I can’t recall if I talked to them separately or together). They were crestfallen, because they were now on notice that the DNI, two successive White House counsels, and the vice president’s top lawyer had weighed in strongly against destroying the tapes. To top it off, I confided to them that Porter Goss seemed distinctly unenthusiastic about the idea, too. I offered Jose the following advice: Cool it for a while because the powers that be are simply not on board.
    My advice seemed to have an effect. Jose never again approached me on the subject.

    I don’t remember hearing anything more about the tapes for months afterward. But then, around the beginning of November 2005, the top two lawyers from my office responsible for covert operations told me that Jose and his senior staff had come to them wanting to revisit the issue. I am still not entirely certain what, other than the passage of time, prompted his renewed effort. The two lawyers did tell me that the chief of our overseas office, who had been safeguarding the tapes for years, was preparing to retire shortly and was pressing headquarters for final resolution before he left.
    It had been six months since my meeting with Harriet Miers. I had no reason to believe she and the others who had strongly opposed destroying the tapes had moderated their views in the interim. But I still clung to the conviction that the advocates for destruction were sincere in their belief and deserved a hearing. In retrospect, I was being naïve. In the years since, I have often wondered whether I should have gone to Jose at that point and told him, in no uncertain terms, “Forget it, Jose. No one is ever going to agree to destruction.” I came to conclude that telling him that wouldn’t have made any difference.
    With my agreement, my two lawyers began to work with Jose and his staff to draft language that would be included in a classified cable that would come from the chief of our overseas office, formally requesting permission to destroy the tapes. This would serve to officially “tee up” the issue for headquarters. Once the request was in hand, we lawyers tentatively agreed that I would go back to the director and propose thatI revisit the issue with the White House lawyers. At about the same time, DNI Negroponte would be alerted and consulted about the renewed request. Then, in the extremely unlikely event that all of these officials withdrew their previous strongly expressed objections, we would “scrub” all of the ongoing and pending court cases, congressional investigations, and so on, to ensure that destruction could not conceivably impact any of them. Finally, if all of these hurdles were cleared, the