Need 50K of Cocaine

 John Rizzo (above), 34-year CIA employee, is breaking the organization’s code of silence to expose the government organization’s darkest secrets for the very first time.

Chief among his bombshell revelations is the suggestion that Hollywood and Washington are much closer than anyone has previously thought: exchanging money, information — and in one staggering case — a request for $50,000 of cocaine!

In his new book, Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in CIA, whistleblower Rizzo, who served as the acting general counsel for the entire CIA, admits,  “the CIA has long had a special relationship with the entertainment industry, devoting considerable attention to fostering relationships with Hollywood movers and shakers: studio executives, producers, directors and big-name actors.”

“There are officers assigned to this account full-time,” he reveals, adding many Hollywood denizens offer up information to their country — at a price.

Movie industry vets are “receptive to helping the CIA in any way they can,” Rizzo claims, “probably in equal parts because they are sincerely patriotic and because it gives them a taste of real-life intrigue and excitement.”

On the other hand, for the government, “their power and international celebrity can be valuable,” Rizzo explains. “It gives them entrée to people and places abroad. Heads of state want to meet and get cozy with them.”

“But things can get complicated,” he admits.

In one instance, Rizzo claims, the agency was approached blindly by “a major film star at the time” who “somehow knew that another big star’s production company had an association with the CIA’s clandestine service over the years … Now this guy was offering his own name and services to us. Free of charge. Anything he could do. Just out of patriotic duty.”

But it wasn’t exactly a case of no-strings-attached, Rizzo would soon find out.

“As our guy related his story, I wondered to myself, why is he telling me this?” he admits. “It all sounded perfectly fine to me. It was kind of cool actually. And then he got to the kicker.”

 “There is one little kicker,” Rizzo claims his underling said. “The actor refuses to take any money, but he told us that instead all he wants of us is to score him the best fifty-thousand-dollar stash of cocaine we can find. He seems to think we can get the real primo stuff. 

So that’s why I’m here. Is it ok for us to do it?”

What do you think happened?

Woman heads CIA spy unit for first time

By Pam Benson

Another glass ceiling has been cracked at least temporarily with a woman now running the CIA's spy division.

The long time CIA veteran leading the National Clandestine Service on an acting basis cannot be publicly named because she is still a covert officer.

The question is whether she will get the job permanently. But her background could be problematic for new CIA boss John Brennan.

According to sources familiar with her career, she was assigned to a senior position at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

In that role, she was involved in the controversial interrogation and detention program set up as the agency tracked and captured suspected al Qaeda terrorists.

She moved to the clandestine unit as chief of staff when her boss at the time, Jose Rodriguez, was tapped to run the service in 2004.

The sources said the two were involved in a decision to destroy 92 videos of terror detainee interrogations, a move that infuriated congressional lawmakers and prompted a Justice Department investigation that did not result in any charges.

The Bush administration came under fire at the time because some interrogations at clandestine CIA prisons overseas involved harsh techniques, like waterboarding and stress positions.

Questions over terrorism interrogations and the CIA detention program also dogged Brennan during his Senate confirmation hearings last month.

Some senators wanted to know if he had a role in managing the program when he served as the agency's executive director.

Brennan said he did not and indicated he privately raised objections with colleagues to enhanced interrogation techniques.

He acknowledged saying several years ago that those interrogations did produce some valuable intelligence and saved lives.

But Brennan said he didn't know what to believe when confronted with questions about a recently released Senate Intelligence Committee report that concluded the CIA exaggerated the effectiveness of the program.

"Reading this report from the committee raises questions about the information that I was given at the time, the impression I had at the time," Brennan told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing.

"Now I have determined what, based on that information as well as what CIA says, what the truth is. And at this point ... I do not know what the truth is."

As CIA director, Brennan is responsible for providing the agency's response to the Senate report. He told the lawmakers he would do so by early next month.

With that backdrop, he also has to decide who will run the clandestine service permanently.

Regardless of whether the female acting director is tainted by her role in the interrogation program, she is not the only candidate.

There are at least two others: a former chief of station in Pakistan and a former head of the Counterterrorism Center, both whom are undercover.

In an unusual move, Brennan has asked a team of former senior CIA officials-John McLaughlin, Stephen Kappas and Mary Margaret Graham– to review the choices.

The Washington Post, which first reported on the female acting director, quoted sources as saying the review panel could provide political cover for Brennan at a time when the interrogation controversy is prominent.

The current and former intelligence officials CNN spoke with dismissed that suggestion, saying Brennan simply would like outside opinions for a very senior job.

CIA spokesman Preston Golson the female acting director "is one of the most senior and respected officers in the agency and is, of course, a strong candidate for the job."

But, the truth of the matter is that it is not CIA but Secret Service…  As reporters, one would think that they would check out the facts…