A Hit List Miss

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Secrecy expert Steven Aftergood points out that the Washington Post ran a correction on Friday explaining that no, the CIA does not maintain a list of US citizens to kill. That’s apparently the job of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). I emailed Aftergood to ask him how relevant the difference is. Here’s what he said:

As a policy matter, it hardly makes a difference which agency is pulling the trigger. But as a student of CIA operations and public perceptions of intelligence, I thought it was noteworthy that CIA was mistakenly accused in this case.

Fair enough—the CIA shouldn’t be wrongly accused of plotting to kill Americans. But the fact remains that the Obama administration claims the power to assassinate Americans without due process, and a hit list targeting American citizens apparently exists. That’s scary stuff.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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