Senate Committee Adopts Secret CIA Torture Report
But doesn't tell the hoi polloi what it contains
WASHINGTON – The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today voted to adopt a report on its investigation into the use of torture and abuse by the CIA. The report is the result of an exhaustive three-year review into the CIA's interrogation, detention, and extraordinary rendition program. The vote to adopt the support was bipartisan, under the leadership of committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA and with significant support from Sen. John McCain, R-AZ.
On his second full day in office, President Obama ordered the CIA to close its prisons and comply with the Army Field Manual on Interrogations. The report adopted today is the first comprehensive oversight by Congress over the programs terminated by Obama.
"The committee took an important step toward making sure that history will not repeat itself. The investigation and report are also an important precedent for establishing checks and balances between Congress and a CIA that has often flouted both the law and American values," said Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. "Only by knowing what happened at the CIA can Congress ensure that it does not happen again."