" ... It was like: Let's kill them all..."

In the WSJ, here

"... a small CIA unit examined the potential for targeted assassinations of al Qaeda operatives, according to the three former officials. The Ford administration had banned assassinations in the response to investigations into intelligence abuses in the 1970s. Some officials who advocated the approach were seeking to build teams of CIA and military Special Forces commandos to emulate what the Israelis did after the Munich Olympics terrorist attacks, said another former intelligence official...."

... and Laura Rosen's remarks in the War&Piece segment.

"... So what was so controversial here that Cheney wouldn't allow it to be briefed to Congress? And cost so (according to Hoekstra in WSJ) little?

Perhaps not a whole separate collection on bad guys effort (after all, what else would anyone expect the CIA to do after 9/11 but do as much collection on suspected bad guys everywhere?), but a separate (computer/database ?) channel for collection, going to Cheney, that was about contemplating killing/capturing or training people to do so in countries where it would have been controversial to be found doing so?

Unlike say Yemen, where the US did it? Without an extraordinary degree of controversy, at least here? (Or was Yemen an outgrowth of this finding?)

In other words: it cost too little to be a whole separate collection program. That is what all these CIA station chiefs and case officers were doing, one thought - collecting info on suspected bad guys all around the world.

So this separate super secret not implemented collection program - that it cost so little and the controversial nature of it -- are what's perplexing to me.

Speculation: that they might get caught having contemplated killing people in france germany britain or italy etc. without consulting allies is enough for Dems to go bonkers - and Republicans like Hoesktra to say they might have contemplated it September 12 - but not after. You don't want to lose your alliance in the war on terror over this.

Also - wonder if there is some sort of regular renewal required for whatever "finding" or whatever authorized this collection program at the CIA. And that is why it was brought to the attention of Panetta only June 22nd (renewal every six months? Every year?) Perhaps it only then too rose to the top of pile of things the new DCI general counsel learned about as well."