Feinstein Live-Tweets Fact Check Of CIA Chief’s Speech On Torture Report

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, tells Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to be cautious about the evolution of small, unmanned drone aircraft and the threat to American... Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, tells Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to be cautious about the evolution of small, unmanned drone aircraft and the threat to Americans’ privacy, at a Senate Transportation subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 13, 2014. A dispute between the CIA and Sen. Feinstein flared into public view this week when, in an extraordinary floor speech, she accused the CIA of improperly searching a computer network the spy agency had set up for lawmakers investigating the George W. Bush-era interrogation program for suspected terrorists. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS

December 11, 2014 3:53 p.m.

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During CIA Director John Brennan’s response to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the torture techniques the CIA used on detainees after 9/11, staffers for committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) offered a live rebuttal.

Brennan acknowledged that the CIA had its shortcomings following 9/11, but Feinstein objected to some of his defenses.

Brennan said that it is “unknown and unknowable” whether the interrogation tactics used by the CIA helped gather useful intelligence, which Feinstein’s office rebutted using the hashtag #ReadTheReport.

CIA says “unknowable” if we could have gotten the intel other ways. Study shows it IS knowable: CIA had info before torture. #ReadTheReport

— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) December 11, 2014

Coercive interrogation techniques don’t work. Traditional intelligence collection, interrogation and law enforcement do. #ReadTheReport

— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) December 11, 2014

Brennan also defended the CIA’s methods by noting that the Bush administration “authorized the program six days after 9/11, and it was our job to carry it out.”

Covert authority did not include authorization to use coercive interrogation techniques. #ReadTheReport

— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) December 11, 2014

EIT authority based on vital, otherwise unavailable intel. Not “useful information.” #ReadTheReport

— Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) December 11, 2014

H/T Jeff Zeleny

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