An Italian court has convicted 22 CIA operatives and one Air Force colonel of kidnapping. The CIA grabbed Egyptian imam Abu Omar in Milan and flew him to Egypt to be tortured. This is "illegal" under Italian "law."

What's the best way to make a suspected terrorist forget all the crucial details that we need access to in order to thwart the terrorist plot we suspect him of being involved in? Why, torture him. Naturally.

Just as "but they were a huge jerk" is not a legitimate defense of beating someone to death, "but it produced actionable intelligence" is not a legitimate defense of torture. Not that that actually matters anymore!

You sorta feel sorry for Leon Panetta. He has no intelligence experience, he's taking control of a dispirited and publicly shamed CIA, and Justice and Obama apparently blindsided him with this investigation business. But on the other hand...

So what was redacted in the publicly released version of the CIA Inspector General's report on torture? Oh, mostly death and stuff. Also there were the times the CIA accidentally misplaced detainees.

Attorney General Eric Holder will appoint a prosecutor to determine whether there is enough evidence to prosecute CIA interrogators who tortured and murdered detainees. This will not please Leon Panetta!

Recent reports about "mock executions" and other incendiary interrogation tactics have given the CIA a bad, bad name. Thus, President Obama and his White House are taking things into their own hands. But what does that mean?

While you were sleeping, America: the CIA performed "mock executions" on torture detainees! You know, to scare them! Mr. Torture Beat 2009, Newsweek's Michael Isikoff, reported the CIA's upcoming release of "long-suppressed" reports detailing instances. How bad are we talking?

The Washington Post reports today that ACLU lawyers may have violated the law by showing photos of CIA agents to Guantanamo Bay prisoners. But they kind of buried the lead—the ACLU managed to tail and photograph CIA agents.

As part of Dick Cheney's secret program to conduct political assassinations, the CIA hired Blackwater, the shady group of Christian vigilantes for hire whose founder was recently implicated in a murder, to assist in the operation. [New York Times]

When Ron Silver died in March, the New York Post's Cindy Adams eulogized him by revealing that he'd once been a CIA operative: "I remember him saying he'd been in the CIA at age 22." It's not true.

That dang Seymour Hersh. The New Yorker scribe is always running saying crazy things to scare the bejesus out of us and, unfortunately, he's always right. Just like when he mentioned that Dick Cheney was running a CIA "death squad."

Wow. The New York Times has two sources reporting: C.I.A. director Leon E. Panetta's been testifying to Congress that Dick Cheney ordered the C.I.A. to withhold information regarding a secret counter-terrorism project. And just how sketchy is this Dick?

Leon Panetta, Obama's CIA Director, told House Intelligence Committee members that the agency had lied to and "concealed significant actions" from lawmakers since the beginning of the George W. Bush presidency and continuing until recently. [Congressional Quarterly]

Last night Glenn Beck's guest was ex-CIA person Michael Scheuer, who stated that the only hope for the country was for Osama Bin Laden to "deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States." Seriously.

This week's New Yorker features a 7600 word profile of Leon Panetta, Obama's choice to lead the CIA. Most notable among those 7600 words: Panetta's been wondering the same thing many have about the depths of Dick Cheney's dark soul.

An ad in the new Black Enterprise seeks "some Bournes to serve under Barack." [Copyranter]

The CIA is looking to hire a few good former hedge funders and investment bankers to put their "skills" to use on behalf of the USA. But could I-bankers really stand the rigors of the CIA lifestyle? Let's compare:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi essentially said today that she is the victim of a CIA information operation directed against the constitutional leadership of the United States. So what else is new?

ABC News' Brian Ross styles himself a gumshoe of the old-school, and his network calls him "one of the most honored and respected journalists in the country." So why is he wrong so often?