Today’s Must ReadAdd this to our list of legislators who knew about the CIA’s recording of interrogations of al-Qaeda detainees: in September 2002 and again in 2003, the leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees were briefed on what goes on in those interrogations. That means ex-Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sen. Richard Shelby, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), and ex-Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL) knew about waterboarding prisoners like Abu Zubaydah, leader of al-Qaeda’s military committee. Publicly, The Washington Post reports, they said nothing, because privately, they didn’t object — until waterboarding became public knowledge, and some of the lawmakers expressed outrage. But some are disputing that account, though they’re not giving specifics. From the Post:
Individual lawmakers’ recollections of the early briefings varied dramatically, but officials present during the meetings described the reaction as mostly quiet acquiescence, if not outright support. “Among those being briefed, there was a pretty full understanding of what the CIA was doing,” said Goss, who chaired the House intelligence committee from 1997 to 2004 and then served as CIA director from 2004 to 2006. “And the reaction in the room was not just approval, but encouragement.”
Congressional officials say the groups’ ability to challenge the practices was hampered by strict rules of secrecy that prohibited them from being able to take notes or consult legal experts or members of their own staffs. And while various officials have described the briefings as detailed and graphic, it is unclear precisely what members were told about waterboarding and how it is conducted. Several officials familiar with the briefings also recalled that the meetings were marked by an atmosphere of deep concern about the possibility of an imminent terrorist attack.
“In fairness, the environment was different then because we were closer to Sept. 11 and people were still in a panic,” said one U.S. official present during the early briefings. “But there was no objecting, no hand-wringing. The attitude was, ‘We don’t care what you do to those guys as long as you get the information you need to protect the American people.’ ”
That U.S. official is clearly engaging in pushback. The revelation that the CIA videotaped interrogations in 2002 and then destroyed their recordings in 2005 threatens to lead to the agency’s nightmare scenario: prosecution for potential war crimes. On Saturday, the Justice Department, along with the CIA’s inspector general, opened an investigation into the destruction. The agency wants to make clear that it thought it had legal cover from the White House and Justice Department in 2002 to torture detainees — and political cover from the relevant leaders of the intelligence committees in Congress. On the former point, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and then-Justice Department official John Yoo made sure of it. And on that latter point, it’s clear from the Washington Post story that Congress did indeed sign on. As the investigations proceed, the agency will argue that they were not in this alone.
Bob Graham, who left the Senate in 2005, has said he has no recollection of the briefings. So that’s one denial. Porter Goss, who became CIA Director in 2004, says all involved knew about the interrogations. Jay Rockefeller’s story is complicated — he began public objection to waterboarding in 2005 — and is liable to change. Jane Harman says she won’t discuss anything classified: a cynic might say that at least she’s consistent. Pat Roberts didn’t return my Friday phone call.
So what did Pelosi know? From the Post:
Pelosi declined to comment directly on her reaction to the classified briefings. But a congressional source familiar with Pelosi’s position on the matter said the California lawmaker did recall discussions about enhanced interrogation. The source said Pelosi recalls that techniques described by the CIA were still in the planning stage — they had been designed and cleared with agency lawyers but not yet put in practice — and acknowledged that Pelosi did not raise objections at the time.
Interesting. That’s the first dispute of the substance of the 2002 briefing. But does that mean that Pelosi knew detainees would be waterboarded, or did she only know something more generic? Her elaboration yesterday:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among the lawmakers who attended the briefing, issued a statement on Sunday saying that she eventually did protest the techniques and that she concurred with objections raised by a Democratic colleague in a letter to the C.I.A. in early 2003.
Watch that letter never be released, under cover of classification. But is that Pelosi’s last word on what she knew? We’ll see.
Update: I originally forgot that Richard Shelby, (R-AK), was the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee in 2002. Sorry for the omission. To be clear, the leadership of the Senate and House intel committees in 2002 was Graham, Shelby, Goss and Pelosi. In 2003, it was Rockefeller, Roberts, Goss and Harman.
