CIA chief: ‘Unknowable’ whether ordinary interrogation would bring same intel gains

CIA Director John Brennan said Thursday that valuable information was obtained from detainees subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, but it remains “unknowable” whether conventional questioning alone could have led to the same intelligence gains.

In his first public comments since Tuesday’s release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA detention program, Brennan also defended the use of so-called “enhanced” techniques as the “right” response at a time when the agency believed al-Qaeda was possibly preparing another wave of terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Brennan also directly challenged some of the reports main conclusions.

He also noted “mistakes” by CIA agents as the detention program was expanded rapidly during the years after the 9/11 attacks. Some CIA went “outside the bounds’’ with acts Brennan described as “abhorrent’’ without giving further details.  Read More at Washington Post

CIA director: U.S. spies raised questions about 9/11 intelligence ahead of Iraq War

• Last U.S. detention facility closes in Afghanistan