Just to keep things square, could you provide evidence that Brennan is a torture advocate?

Not asking for a photo of him waterboarding someone, just credible evidence that he is now or ever has been an advocate for torture. Simple accusations, based on unattributed sources or the accusations of others also without foundation, ought not count as evidence; "everybody says" is not good enough.

I ask for evidence because I do not believe the accusation is true. I believe rather, based on all available evidence, that he has been a steady critic of torture and was as outspoken about it as he could be and still keep his job.

Secondly, I think this reorganization is a good thing. The NSA has become stultified and allowed to rot, as has all of our intelligence gathering and analytical machinery; what isn't still stuck in Cold War mode has been corrupted by political considerations beyond any reason. The whole apparatus needs to be shaken by the scruff, changed around and repurposed. This is long overdue, and I am glad to see it.

I understand your concern, particularly in light of your views on Brennan. I don't share your view of him. I think he has been incorrectly characterized and wrongly accused, so I don't see him as any particular threat and on balance a positive force for accurate asessment and interpretation of intelligence data. That will be, IMHO, a good thing.

Greenwald:

there is Brennan's December 5, 2005 appearance on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, in which he vehemently defended the Bush administration's use of rendition -- one of the key tools to subject detainees to torture:

JOHN BRENNAN: I think over the past decade it has picked up some speed because of the nature of the terrorist threat right now but essentially it's a practice the United States and other countries have used to transport suspected terrorists from a country, usually where they're captured to another country, either their country of origin or a country where they can be questioned, detained or brought to justice. . . .

MARGARET WARNER: So was Secretary Rice correct today when she called it a vital tool in combating terrorism?

JOHN BRENNAN: I think it's an absolutely vital tool. I have been intimately familiar now over the past decade with the cases of rendition that the U.S. Government has been involved in. And I can say without a doubt that it has been very successful as far as producing intelligence that has saved lives.

MARGARET WARNER: So is it -- are you saying both in two ways -- both in getting terrorists off the streets and also in the interrogation?

JOHN BRENNAN: Yes. The rendition is the practice or the process of rendering somebody from one place to another place. It is moving them and the U.S. Government will frequently facilitate that movement from one country to another. . . .

Now, you can split hairs and say that defending rendition isn't defending torture, and you can say that America doesn't torture, to which one can only assert there is overwhelming evidence that some Amerikans- and people who profess to work for Amerika- surely do.