The news today on that increasingly weird CIA scandal is that the agency withheld information about a secret program from Congress for years on direct orders from Dick Cheney.

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy.

Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day.

Efforts to reach Mr. Cheney through relatives and associates were unsuccessful.

My take on this kerfuffle: it’s about saving face for Nancy Pelosi. I’d be willing to bet that a lot of the Democrats yelling about this “secret” program (which, by the way, was never actually implemented) have known about it for years. They’re pulling it out now because they need to back up Pelosi’s claims that the CIA lied to her about waterboarding.