CIA not inviting reporters to annual holiday party: report

Reporters will not be invited to the CIA’s annual holiday party this year, Politico reported Friday.

The decision was made by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and appears to be the first time since 2011 that the intelligence press corps will not be invited to attend the event, according to the report.

The CIA’s holiday party has in recent years marked an opportunity for journalists to socialize with agency officials who rarely, if ever, talk with members of the press.

{mosads}

According to Politico, the last time the agency declined to invite journalists to the annual event was in 2011 under then-CIA Director David Petraeus, who did so because of budget issues.

The CIA’s holiday party is among the most exclusive in Washington, and invites are highly sought after among the city’s players, including diplomats, lawmakers and journalists.

In the past, the invites to journalists have been intended to show reporters a warmer side of the highly secretive agency. 

“I think we all found it useful and you all found it useful,” one former Obama administration official told Politico. “Frankly, I would have been more surprised if [Pompeo] hadn’t ended that tradition.”

Pompeo, a former GOP congressman who took over the agency in January, has decried intelligence leaks to the media.