Latest in Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI)
Yesterday, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Central Intelligence Agency released over 50 documents related to the agency's enhanced interrogation and rendition program during the Bush administration.
Last week, the Hill obtained a draft copy of Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Richard Burr's (R-NC) much discussed encryption legislation . Today, the senators made it official, releasing the Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016.
The two senators released the following statement:
When the Senate Intelligence Committee initially released its Study on the CIA’s Enhanced Interrogation Program in December 2014, the CIA quietly released a Note to the Reader along with its Fact Sheet, statement from Director John Brennan, and June 2013 Response to a draft of the SSCI Study.
At 2:30 pm, DNI James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, NSA Director Michael Rogers, and DIA Director Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart will testify before an open hearing of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee on the global threats that the United States faces.
The hearing will examine the 2016 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
I was extremely disappointed to read Professor Amy Zegart’s post regarding the Senate Intelligence Committee’s study of the CIA Detention and Interrogation Program. Not only did it include factually inaccurate statements, it also appeared to blame the Committee for the impediments imposed on the Study by the Executive Branch.
My staff has compiled a detailed description of the inaccurate and misleading statements included in Ms. Zegart’s post, which appears below.
Who won the torture debate -- the CIA or Senate Intelligence Committee Report? Were waterboarding, rectal hydration, stress positions, and other techniques used against detainees effective? Legal? Ethical? In a forthcoming special issue of the journal Intelligence and National Security, a range of academics and one former CIA lawyer weigh in.