Brennan defends CIA, won't say torture wasn't useful
CIA Director John Brennan offered a defense Thursday of his agency's Bush-era interrogation practices, but conceded that there were some missteps and that it's "unknowable" whether so-called enhanced interrogation techniques yielded key intelligence.
In a number of cases, CIA employees used techniques that "had not been authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all," Brennan said during a rare televised news conference. "We fell short when it came to holding some officers accountable for their mistakes."
But Brennan threaded a needle on the usefulness of techniques characterized by many as torture, saying that detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques gave up "useful and valuable" information, yet it's not clear that harsh interrogation techniques yielded that information.
That is "unknown and unknowable," he said.
Asked if torture helped draw out information that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, Brennan would only say that individuals who were subjected to the techniques "provided information that was useful and was used" in the hunt for the Al Qaeda leader.
(Also on POLITICO: John Brennan's zigzag on torture)
Throughout his remarks, Brennan described his agency's conduct as enhanced interrogation techniques or EITs, and not as "torture" -- the term that President Barack Obama has used for them. Pressed on his avoidance of that characterization, Brennan said he "will leave to others how they might want to label" the CIA's practices.
He also declined to say whether he supported the release of the Senate Select Committee of Intelligence's summary report on the interrogation techniques, but indicated that he believes too much been revealed.
"I think there is more than enough transparency that has happened over the last couple of days," he said. "I think it's over the top."
The press conference was an opportunity for Brennan to speak up for the CIA workforce, many of whom feel unfairly targeted by the recent barrage of criticism directed at the agency over its interrogation efforts. Current and former CIA staffers, including some who have misgivings about the CIA's actions, contend that the Senate report's focus on the agency tends to absolve Bush White House officials of their role in ordering and overseeing the program.
The appearance also represents the first on-camera response by a current Obama administration official to some of the central claims in the Senate report: namely that the CIA misled Congress, the White House and the public about the program, and that the interrogations were not effective in producing intelligence that saved lives by heading off terrorist plots.
While the CIA's written response to the Senate report disputes those conclusions, the White House and the president have repeatedly refused to say whether they agree with the Senate on those points or with the spy agency.
Brennan began his news conference by recounting the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and conceded that it scrambled to respond to the challenges of the war on terror. "In many ways this was uncharted territory for the CIA and we were not prepared," he said.
(POLITICO Magazine: Michael Hayden is not sorry)
Regardless of one's views on enhanced interrogation techniques, "our nation and, in particular, this agency did a lot of things right during this difficult time to keep this country safe and secure," he said.
The "overwhelming majority" of the agency's workforce "carried out their responsibilities faithfully," he argued. "They did what they were asked to do in the service of our nation."
Brennan spoke two days after the Senate Intelligence panel issued a summary report of its findings from a five-year study of the CIA's interrogation program, which President Barack Obama has said included torture. Chairman Dianne Feinstein's staff ran a real-time fact-check of Brennan's remarks through her Twitter account, @SenFeinstein, adding the hashtag #ReadTheReport.
"We gave the committee our full support" as it started its study in 2009, Brennan said. But, he noted, Feinstein's staff did not interview CIA staff. "It was unusual," he said.
While the report is "flawed," much of it is "consistent with our own internal findings," Brennan said.
White House news secretary Josh Earnest would not say whether Brennan -- who was at the White House on Thursday morning for the President's Daily Briefing -- had discussed the rare press conference with the president. "This is a decision that Director Brennan made," Earnest said. "It's one that he should make."
By speaking out now, Brennan may also be seeking to bookend the controversy. Discussion of the interrogation program in the media seems likely to continue at a fairly intense level at least through the Sunday television talk shows, one of which will feature former Vice President Dick Cheney defending the use of techniques like waterboarding and confining suspects in small spaces. The CIA and the White House are clearly eager to put this particular flurry of news coverage behind them and having Brennan speak out definitively on the subject now could diminish media interest in dogging him about the subject at any future public speeches or in future interviews.
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