Why has a sub-rosa program within Washington’s Department of Licensing, concealed from the governor and legislative poobahs, issued 288 bogus driver’s licenses to the CIA since 2007?
We could tell you, dear reader, but then we would have to kill you.
KPLU’s Austin Jenkins, working in partnership with Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun, revealed the program that for years has spit out fake licenses to G Men (and women.) As Jenkins and Farley report, the confidential license program operates under the rubric of the Orwellian “License Integrity Unit.”
Notwithstanding the CIA and Defense Department (also a big recipient of confidential licenses), police officers require the program to produce IDs for undercover ops. It’s a critical law-enforcement tool. The head scratcher is why the feds represent 53 percent of the licenses issued.
The CIA, that venerable, can’t-spy-in-country behemoth, while not technically “law enforcement,” eclipses all local, state and federal agencies. Hence, the latest national-security meme: James Bond. Index, WA.
Now, the Department of Licensing is asking for the Legislature’s imprimatur and some lawmakers are gun shy about giving The Company free rein. On Tuesday, Sen. Tracey Eide’s bill to codify the program and clarify exemptions for public records requests passed the state House 88-8 and is headed back to the Senate.
Former DOL director under Gov. Chris Gregoire, Liz Luce, told The Herald Wednesday, “I knew we did give confidential licenses to undercover police but was unaware of the federal CIA licenses.” (Cue Sydney Pollack’s “Six Days of the Condor.”)
The salient question is whether the CIA, an intelligence agency, qualifies as law enforcement. The CIA will likely shape-shift (it has whiz-smart lawyers) and avoid the bill’s restrictive language. The point is not to marginalize the CIA, but to try and harmonize oversight, transparency and security.
Northwesterners have a visceral interest when issues of liberty and security intersect. In the 1970s, U.S. Sen. Frank Church of Idaho spotlighted CIA malfeasance and abuses, including political assassinations. Today, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden continues Church’s legacy, asking tough questions about Guantanamo, targeted killings and torture. Lastly, this week the bipartisan Constitution Project produced its report documenting how the U.S. engaged in torture after 9/11, with zero evidence that the practice generated actionable intelligence.
Here is where we insert the joke that if torture is going on, we’d much prefer agents brandish California IDs. But then again, some things are too abominable, too contrary to human rights to joke about.
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