US spymaster John Brennan staunchly defended CIA officers yesterday as “patriots” but admitted some interrogators had used “abhorrent” tactics in the past decade.
In an extraordinary news conference, broadcast live from the agency’s Langley headquarters in a first in CIA history, Brennan sought to play down a damning Senate report on CIA torture of al-Qaeda suspects that sparked a global furore.
Brennan insisted the vast majority of CIA officers had performed admirably but confirmed some had stray ed “outside of bounds” of approved rules and abused prisoners.
Brennan said the torture came amid fear of another wave of violence from al-Qaeda after the September 11 2001 attacks, as the Central Intelligence Agency scrambled to take on the role of jailers – a task it had virtually no experience with. “We were not prepared,” he said, describing how then-president George W Bush had approved the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” now denounced as torture. President Barack Obama halted the programme upon taking office in 2009 and has since described the Bush-era use of torture by the CIA as counterproductive and an affront to American values.
“In a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorised, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all,” Brennan said. Amid a political row about whether Bush was right to order tough tactics in the wake of the attacks, Brennan said it was “unknowable” whether harsh interrogations had won useful intelligence.
When asked about his public condemnation of the methods five years ago, Brennan said he stood by his remarks and that torture often produced unreliable intelligence.
“I tend to believe that the use of coercive methods has a strong prospect for resulting in false information,” he said.
Brennan said answers from detainees were indeed useful in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, but it was impossible to say whether the “enhanced” interrogation had been necessary. Brennan refused to say whether the methods amounted to torture, but said the CIA was no longer involved in interrogating suspects and had adopted reforms to prevent such abuses from happening again.
But Brennan blasted this week’s Senate intelligence committee report that accused the CIA of misleading the US government and public for years about the scale and effect of its torture methods.
Committee chair Senator Dianne Feinstein mostly praised the director’s comments.
“I am pleased that Director Brennan is attempting to acknowledge past mistakes by the agency in order to focus on current and future missions and make sure that a programme like this is never considered again,” she said in a statement.
Obama has condemned the torture, but has refused to say whether he thinks it can be effective.
Cia softens blow of scandal
In an extraordinary news conference, broadcast live from the agency’s Langley headquarters in a first in CIA history, Brennan sought to play down a damning Senate report on CIA torture of al-Qaeda suspects that sparked a global furore.
Brennan insisted the vast majority of CIA officers had performed admirably but confirmed some had stray ed “outside of bounds” of approved rules and abused prisoners.
Brennan said the torture came amid fear of another wave of violence from al-Qaeda after the September 11 2001 attacks, as the Central Intelligence Agency scrambled to take on the role of jailers – a task it had virtually no experience with. “We were not prepared,” he said, describing how then-president George W Bush had approved the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” now denounced as torture. President Barack Obama halted the programme upon taking office in 2009 and has since described the Bush-era use of torture by the CIA as counterproductive and an affront to American values.
“In a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorised, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all,” Brennan said. Amid a political row about whether Bush was right to order tough tactics in the wake of the attacks, Brennan said it was “unknowable” whether harsh interrogations had won useful intelligence.
When asked about his public condemnation of the methods five years ago, Brennan said he stood by his remarks and that torture often produced unreliable intelligence.
“I tend to believe that the use of coercive methods has a strong prospect for resulting in false information,” he said.
Brennan said answers from detainees were indeed useful in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, but it was impossible to say whether the “enhanced” interrogation had been necessary. Brennan refused to say whether the methods amounted to torture, but said the CIA was no longer involved in interrogating suspects and had adopted reforms to prevent such abuses from happening again.
But Brennan blasted this week’s Senate intelligence committee report that accused the CIA of misleading the US government and public for years about the scale and effect of its torture methods.
Committee chair Senator Dianne Feinstein mostly praised the director’s comments.
“I am pleased that Director Brennan is attempting to acknowledge past mistakes by the agency in order to focus on current and future missions and make sure that a programme like this is never considered again,” she said in a statement.
Obama has condemned the torture, but has refused to say whether he thinks it can be effective.
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