Mission Accomplished

The CIA hired private contractors from Blackwater USA in 2004 as part of a secret program to kill top-level members of al-Qaida, but a spokesman says it never resulted in the capture or killing of any terrorist suspects. So what's worse - we outsourced our terrorist hunting or that we paid them for failing?

Former Rep. Porter Goss was CIA director at the time, and the contract ended during his time in office, according to a former senior intelligence official and another person familiar with the program. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the program remains classified.

The New York Times said Blackwater executives helped with planning, training and surveillance for the program. It was begun shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks under then-director Porter Goss, but never became fully operational. Translation: another boatload of money funneled to Blackwater from their Republican friends in office!

CIA Director Leon Panetta terminated the program in June upon learning of it, then informed the congressional intelligence committees in an emergency briefing the next day. That's called being responsible! Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, is under heavy criticism for its alleged role in a September 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. Remember?

It was unclear whether the CIA had planned to use the contractors to capture or kill al-Qaida operatives or just to help with training and surveillance. Knowing their track record, they probably didn't either. Government officials said bringing outsiders into a program with lethal authority raised deep concerns about accountability in covert operations. The report stated that the CIA did not have a formal contract with Blackwater for this program but instead had individual agreements with top company officials, including company founder Erik Prince. Good. Let's not have anything in writing when it comes to our government. And the CIA. Or covert ops. Maybe we can deny payment to them too, since we're doing everything else without records and clearing the way for future denials.

The revelation of the program created a small political firestorm on Capitol Hill. The House Intelligence Committee in June launched an investigation to determine whether the CIA broke the law by not informing Congress about the secret program as soon as it was begun. The program had several lives under four successive CIA directors: George Tenet canceled it during his tenure because it never produced results. His successor, Goss, restarted it and inked the Blackwater contracts. Michael Hayden, Goss' successor, downgraded the program from a planned covert action to an intelligence gathering activity. Panetta drove the final stake into the program in June.

More than a quarter of the U.S. intelligence agencies' employees are outside contractors. Sleep well at night, America.