December 09, 2014 08:37 AM UTC

Tensions High As CIA Torture Report Nears Release

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #3: Republicans angrily pushing back against the Intelligence Committee's report, MSNBC:

GOP members of the committee who withdrew their support for its investigation released their own 167-page “minority views” response to the Democratic report, arguing that the detention and interrogation program “saved lives and played a vital role in weakening al Qa-ida.”

The dissenting committee members – Sens. Saxby Chambliss, Richard Burr, Jim Risch, Daniel Coats, Marco Rubio and Tom Coburn – are just some of the many Republican lawmakers up in arms over the comprehensive review of controversial CIA interrogation techniques, which they warned would lead to violent reprisals that would endanger American personnel and jeopardize intelligence interests.

“I cannot think of a greater disservice to our men and women serving in the military and in our intelligence field than to hand terror groups like ISIL another recruiting tool and excuse to target them,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn said in statement issued Tuesday. “Due to the political calculations of some, the American people and our allies across the globe are less safe today than they were before.”

The CIA and it supporters also went on the offensive Tuesday, with the publication of a pro-interrogation op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by former CIA Directors George J. Tenet, Porter J. Goss and Michael V. Hayden, as well as the creation of a website, “CIA Saved Lives,” by former agency officials.

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UPDATE #2: Here's the report.

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UPDATE: Sen. Mark Udall via Twitter responds to today's report:

Sen. Intel Cmte study corrects record on #CIA's brutal torture prgm. Proud to have led fight for #accountability & gratified #truth is out.

— Mark Udall (@MarkUdall) December 9, 2014

Udall's full statement:

Mark Udall, who led efforts to hold the White House, CIA and intelligence agencies accountable to the American people, welcomed the declassification today of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's exhaustive study of the CIA's brutal, ineffective and misguided detention and interrogation program.

The Senate Intelligence Committee released the executive summary of the report today following months of negotiations with the White House and CIA — a process Udall fought to keep moving forward. Udall also had threatened to take any step necessary to get the truth out if negotiators for the committee and executive branch could not reach an accord that kept faith with the important transparency the report represents.

"The release of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's study of the CIA's detention and interrogation program is an historic victory for our nation, the Constitution, and our system of checks and balances. This study ensures that the truth about the CIA’s brutal torture program finally comes out and that the agency can learn from its repeated missteps and start to restore its integrity," Udall said. "My goal from day one has been holding the CIA accountable, shedding light on this dark chapter of our history, and ensuring neither the CIA nor any future administration would make these grievous mistakes ever again. The report released today achieves those goals and affirms that we are a nation that does not hide from its past, but learns from it.

"We can protect our national security without compromising who we are as Americans. This landmark study — and the millions of pages of agency documents and testimony it is based upon — shows that torture is not effective and does not make us safer."

Udall has been the leading proponent of swiftly declassifying the Senate Intelligence Committee's exhaustive study on the CIA's detention and interrogation program. Following the Senate Intelligence Committee's vote this spring to declassify the study, Udall called on the White House to speed declassification of the study and prevent the CIA from interfering with its public release.

Udall also has aggressively pushed back on intelligence officials and anonymous leaks that have sought to discredit the Senate Intelligence Committee's study and prevent the truth about the CIA's brutal torture program from coming out.

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CNN:

The Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA's "enhanced interrogation" techniques to be released Tuesday concludes that the CIA tortured detainees and that torture did not yield actionable intelligence, Sen. Angus King said Tuesday.

"Did we torture people? Yes. Did it work? No," King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said on CNN's "New Day".

King, who is a member of the committee, called the extensive report "chilling" and said it will show the world that the U.S. is repudiating those practices used in the post-9/11 era under President George W. Bush's tenure.

"This is not America. This is not who we are," King said. "What was done diminished our stature and enflamed [Islamist extremists], terrorists around the world."

The report is being released over cries from other lawmakers and intelligence officials who say the report could endanger American personnel abroad.

Last Friday, Esquire published an interview with outgoing Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, who says Americans will be "disgusted" with this report–and also vows that if today's release doesn't satisfy him, he could use other options to ensure the report's findings are fully disclosed. Sen. Udall's long fight against excesses committed by the U.S. government in the name of fighting terrorism, in both the U.S. House and Senate, are likely to go down as his defining legacy:

[Scott Raab]: Is there any reason not to do that? Not do what Mike Gravel did with the Pentagon Papers? What is the tightrope there? You got a $40 million 6,300-page report, right?

[Mark Udall]: Yes.

SR: And all the pressure’s on you right now to—

MU: I have made it clear over the last couple of weeks—if the report is not declassified in a way that’s transparent and shines a bright light on what we did, then I will consider using all and any options.

SR: I’ve heard this before.

MU: And right now, we are at the point where I’m still optimistic that the White House, working with a committee, is going to do the right thing, which is to declassify the report in a way that’s understandable and transparent. And so I’m working through what we call regular order here in Washington. But if, in my opinion, the report is either—obviously, if it’s not released, then I’m gonna use every power I have, because it’s too important. It’s too historic. And we can’t afford to repeat the mistakes to let this slide.

We'll update this post as developments warrant.