8/12/2019 WH Accidentally Leaks Post

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/wh-accidentally-leaks-post 1/2

White House accidentally leaks post-9/11 CIA

torture report findings

Published time: July 31, 2014 03:48Get short URL 

Reuters/Larry Downing

Tags

CIA, Human rights, Intelligence, Law, Politics, USA 

When the CIA first began using its controversial interrogation and detention methods after theSeptember 11th attacks, it reportedly declined to tell the Secretary of State and other Americanambassadors about its actions.

The revelation comes from the Senate’s still-unreleased report scrutinizing the United States’

 post-9/11 interrogation techniques, and first came to the public’s attention Wednesday when theWhite House unintentionally emailed a document detailing the findings to an Associated Press 

reporter.

The report –  parts of which could be declassified by the White House in the coming days –  also

apparently found that some of the ambassadors who were briefed on the CIA’s activity were told

8/12/2019 WH Accidentally Leaks Post

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/wh-accidentally-leaks-post 2/2

not to notify their superiors in the State Department. One congressional official confirmed to the

AP that these findings are documented in the Senate’s report, while a former CIA official said

then-Secretary of State Colin Powell may not have known about the agency’s techniques when

they first started using them.

The White House document noted that the CIA employed slapping, humiliation, sleep-deprivation, exposure to cold temperatures, and waterboarding in its attempts to interrogate

suspects. The document does not go as far as saying the methods are legally considered torture,

 but it does reportedly say the Senate report categorizes the techniques as “torture by a commondefinition.” 

According to the AP, the White House document states that the State Department wishes to stand behind the report’s findings and harshly criticize the CIA.

"This report tells a story of which no American is proud,"  the document says in a section labeled,

"Topline Messages (as proposed by State)."  

"But it is also part of another story of which we can be proud. America's democratic systemworked just as it was designed to work in bringing an end to actions inconsistent with our

democratic values."  

The State Department also wants to maintain that the Senate report "leaves no doubt that the

methods used to extract information from some terrorist suspects caused profound pain, suffering

and humiliation. It also leaves no doubt that the harm caused by the use of these techniquesoutweighed any potential benefit."

Additionally, the document features multiple questions that, presumably, the White House is

 preparing to answer if and when the findings of the Senate report becomes public. They include:

"Until now the (U.S. government) has avoided conceding that the techniques used in the RDI program constituted torture. Now that the report is released is the White House prepared to

concede that people were tortured?"  

"Doesn't the report make clear that at least some who authorized or participated in the [CIA

interrogation] program committed crimes? Will the Justice Department revisit its decision not to

 prosecute anyone?"  

"Isn't it clear that the CIA engaged in torture as defined in the Torture Convention?"  

According to a Tuesday report from Reuters, the White House may very well declassify the

Senate report’s 600-page summary within the next week or so. In addition to its conclusions on

the CIA’s methods themselves, the report is believed to state that no significant counter-terrorinformation was gained through the techniques, and that the CIA claimed greater, more

 beneficial results than the evidence supports.