No criticism of the prez permitted

John Avarosis is on a roll today. Here's another gem he unearthed:

The CIA has imposed new and tighter restrictions on the books, articles, and opinion pieces published by former employees who are still contractors with the intelligence agency. According to several former CIA officials affected by the new policy, the rules are intended to suppress criticism of the Bush administration and of the CIA. The officials say the restrictions amount to an unprecedented political "appropriateness" test at odds with earlier CIA policies on outside publishing.

The move is a significant departure from the CIA's longtime practice of allowing ex-employees to take critical or contrary positions in public, particularly when they are contractors paid to advise the CIA on important topics and to publish their assessments.

All current and former CIA employees have long been required to submit manuscripts for books, opinion pieces, and even speeches to the agency's Publications Review Board, which ensures that the works don't reveal classified information or intelligence sources and methods. The board has not generally factored political opinions into its decision-making, former CIA officials say. But in recent years, former employees have written memoirs and opinion pieces challenging the CIA and the Bush administration, particularly for its use of prewar intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. The board did not find that any of those pieces revealed secrets, a fact that makes the CIA's new review standards troubling, former officials and intelligence-community analysts said.

It's bad enough if it just applies to those still under contract to the CIA, but I wonder. Any former employee of the CIA is forced (I believe by law) to submit books or articles to the CIA for pre-publication review to make sure no classified information is accidentally (or purposely) revealed. I wouldn't be too surprised if the same review standards are being used regardless of whether the person is or is not still under contract. In effect, this may mean that no former employee of the CIA is permitted to criticize Dear Leader or his goons.