Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Originally formed in 2003 by five retired senior U.S. intelligence officers, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)' opposed, on professional grounds, the Iraq War; it responded with a same-day analysis of the 5 February 2002 UN speech by Colin Powell. The group now has over 70 members.
George W. Bush Administration
In a 2004 interview, Philip Giraldi spoke of their impression of the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. At that time, he said the group had 35 members. [1]
Obama Administration
VIPS supported the nomination of Chas Freeman to the National Intelligence Council, in a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. Freeman, however, withdrew his candidacy. [2]
Its April/May set of recommendations for the Obama Administration, concerning torture, was signed by 11 members. [3]
Besides torture, it expressed concern with violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and it agreed with the replacement of Michael Hayden. It states "we believe you were badly misguided in giving a prominent White House post to former CIA director George Tenet’s protégé John Brennan, who has publicly defended “extraordinary rendition” in full knowledge that its purpose was torture. Brennan also had complicit knowledge of the lengths to which Tenet conspired with the Department of Justice to distort history and the law in drafting opinions that attempted to “justify” torture.
References
- ↑ "The Skeptical Spy", Mother Jones, March 2004
- ↑ Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (10 March 2009), Obama's DNI Urged to Back Freeman
- ↑ Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (1 May 2009), Memo to President Obama on Torture