While most Americans celebrated the holidays, President Barack Obama, on Sunday, December 30, quietly signed into law a five-year extension of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which made it legal for the National Security Agency to perform warrantless wiretapping, something that originated under the George W. Bush administration.

Ray McGovern is a veteran CIA analyst looking at Obama’s pick of Brennan as new CIA director. Brennan known for his backing of torture and drone killings. See his interview “Obama’s and Brennan’s “Kill List” and his letter on Brennan, in which he notes:

Nov. 24, 2008 saw the publication of a letter to President-Elect Obama, signed by 200 psychologists, urging him not to select John Brennan to head the CIA because of his open support of “dark-side” policies (Brennan’s, as well as Dick Cheney’s, adjective). Brennan withdrew his name the next day, and The New York Times explained the move as a reaction to ‘concerns he was intimately linked to controversial CIA programs authorized by President Bush.

Download: The Smart Show: Monday, January 7, 2013 (MP3)