CIA Agents' Threat Reason for Release of NIE: Updated

As many here have surmised, the reason for the release of the NIE this week was fear that it would be leaked to the media.  Think Progress has a short blurb on the revelation by Retired Col. W. Patrick Lang that

"intelligence career seniors were lined up to go to jail if necessary" if the document’s gist were not given to the public. Translation? Someone in that group would have gone to the media "on the record" to disclose its contents.

Has the wall around the Bush Administration been breached and in danger of complete collapse?  Yesterday, The New York Times published an article regarding the destruction of interrogation tapes by the CIA, an act that can be deemed as obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.  How did the Times get this information?  It appears that former intelligence officers were sources.

Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave an explosive speech on the Senate floor in which he details the Administration's clear sense that it is above the law.  How did Senator Whitehouse discover this information?

As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I was given access to those opinions, and spent hours poring over them. Sitting in that secure room, as a lawyer, as a former U.S. Attorney, legal counsel to Rhode Island's Governor, and State Attorney General, I was increasingly dismayed and amazed as I read on.

While the opinions remain behind locked doors, Whitehouse's notes were deemed de-classified by someone in the Department of Justice.  Please read emptywheels excellent analysis which includes Whitehouse's entire and riveting speech.

In one week, just one, we have the President lying during a press conference regarding his knowledge about the gist of the NIE, stumbling, incompetent and probably false attempts by the underlings to cover up for the President, evidence that war crime evidence has been destroyed and  justice thwarted.

In addition, we learn through audits that the Department of Homeland Security has squandered billions of dollars and the U.S. Army can't account for almost a billion dollars of weaponry.  We have two Democrats on the Intelligence Committee who knew about the tapes and one who knew about the destruction and neither said anything.

Bold speeches by Senators Whitehouse, Kennedy and Durbin are fine.  A disgusted Carl Levin held a press conference, fine.  Now what does it actually take to hold this administration accountable for their high crimes and misdemeanors?  We are waiting.  And to repeat
FishOutOfWater's flame war initiating comment in Senator Kennedy's diary
"When will the impeachment hearings begin?  I'm ancient and have been taken to task for much less, and much more, so slam me if you will.

Update:  H/T to cotterperson for a link to Ret. Col. Patrick Lang's diary Sic Semper Tyrannis

Update II:  H/T to
taonow for this great find -- not American TM:

US President George W Bush has said he has "no recollection" of the existence of video tapes of CIA interrogations and the plan to destroy them.

From BBC.  I just read in smintheus' FP diary that this statement comes from Dana Perino at today's presser.  Oy vey!