The head of the US spy agency CIA has
defended his agency from accusations in a
Senate report that it tortured terrorism suspects
with no security benefits to the country.
John Brennan said on Thursday that while his
agency “fell short of holding accountable some
officers” who went beyond the legal limits on
interrogation, he asserted that the CIA “did a lot
of things right” in a time when there were “no
easy answers”.
“Our reviews indicate that the detention and
interrogation program produced useful
intelligence that helped the United States thwart
attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives,”
Brennan told a news conference at the agency’s
Virginia headquarters.
On Tuesday, a US Senate report condemned the
CIA for brutality and deception. The “enhanced
interrogation techniques [EITs]” were authorised
by the administration of George W Bush after the
September 11, 2001 attack on the US.
Brennan also said that it was “unknowable” if
those techniques – widely condemned by
American and international critics as torture –
led to the capture and death of Osama bin
Laden.
“We have not concluded that it was the use of
EITs within that programme that allowed us to
obtain useful information from detainees
subjected to them,” Brennan said.
“It was our job to carry it out,” he said, referring
to the order of the Bush administration to
interrogate suspects in the wake of attacks on
the World Trade Centre twin towers.
He conceded that unauthorised and in some
cases “abhorrent” methods were used against
captives.
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