The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture: Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program (83 page)

1052.
See section of this summary addressing representations to the Department of Justice, as well as Memorandum for John Rizzo, Acting General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, from Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, August 1, 2002, Interrogation of al Qaeda Operative; Memorandum for John A. Rizzo, Senior Deputy General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, from Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, May 30, 2005, Re: Application of United States Obligations Under Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture to Certain Techniques that May be Used in the Interrogation of High Value Al Qaeda Detainees; and Memorandum for John A. Rizzo, Acting General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, from Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, July 20, 2007, Re: Application of the War Crimes Act, the Detainee Treatment Act, and Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions to Certain Techniques that May be Used by the CIA in the Interrogation of High Value Al Qaeda Detainees.

1053.
Among other documents, see the August 5, 2003, CIA Memorandum for the Record from Scott Muller from a July 29, 2003, National Security Council Principals Meeting with the subject, “Review of Interrogation Program on 29 July 2003,” as well as the accompanying briefing slides, “CIA Interrogation Program, July 29, 2003”; March 4, 2005, Briefing for Vice President Cheney: CIA Detention and Interrogation Program. CIA document, dated March 4, 2005, entitled, “Briefing for Vice President Cheney: CIA Detention and Interrogation Program”; CIA document, dated May 2, 2006, entitled, BRIEFING FOR CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE PRESIDENT 2 May 2006 Briefing for Chief of Staff to the President Josh Bolten: CIA Rendition, Detention and Interrogation Programs; CIA document entitled, “DCIA Talking Points: Waterboard 06 November 2007,” dated November 6, 2007, with the notation the document was “sent to DCIA Nov. 6 in preparation for POTUS meeting”; and CIA Briefing for Obama National Security Team- “Renditions, Detentions, and Interrogations (RDI)” including “Tab 7,” named “RDG Copy- Briefing on RDI Program 09 Jan. 2009,” prepared “13 January 2009.”

1054.
Among other documents, see: (1) CIA testimony to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) on April 24, 2002, regarding Abu Zubaydah’s initial interrogation; (2) CIA written answers to Committee Questions for the Record, dated August 15, 2002, regarding results of Abu Zubaydah’s interrogations; (3) CIA testimony to SSCI on September 5, 2002, regarding covert detention facilities and results of Abu Zubaydah’s interrogation; (4) CIA cable documenting September 27, 2002, briefing to Chairman Bob Graham and Vice Chairman Richard Shelby and their staff directors regarding the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques in the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah; (5) CIA Memorandum for the Record documenting February 4, 2003, briefing to SSCI Chairman Pat Roberts and Committee staff directors regarding the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program; (6) CIA testimony to SSCI on March 5, 2003, regarding the capture and initial interrogation of KSM; (7) CIA witness testimony to SSCI on March 19, 2003, regarding KSM’s interrogation; (8) CIA witness testimony to SSCI on April 1, 2003, regarding KSM’s capture; (9) April 3, 2003, Intelligence Community Terrorist Threat Assessment regarding KSM threat reporting, entitled “Khalid Shaykh Muhammad’s Threat Reporting—Precious Truths, Surrounded by a Bodyguard of Lies,” provided to the SSCI on April 7, 2003; (10) CIA testimony to SSCI on April 30, 2003, regarding detainee reporting; (11) CIA testimony to SSCI on June 25, 2003, regarding KSM interrogation; (12) CIA testimony to SSCI on July 30, 2003, regarding CIA detainee threat reporting; (13) CIA testimony to SSCI on September 3, 2003, regarding ███████ authorities, including CIA detention authorities; (14) CIA prepared briefing for Chairman Pat Roberts and Vice Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV entitled, “CIA Interrogation Program: DDO Talking Points, 04 September 2003”; (15) CIA witness testimony to SSCI on May 12, 2004, regarding CIA role in abuses at Abu Ghraib prison; (16) SSCI staff notes for July 15, 2004, CIA briefing to Chairman Pat Roberts and Vice Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV regarding the status of the CIA interrogation programs; (17) CIA testimony to SSCI on September 13, 2004, regarding CIA and the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison; (18) Hand-written notes of Vice Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV recording a briefing by Jose Rodriguez on March 7, 2005; (19) CIA Memorandum for the Record, Subject: Sensitive Issue -Counterterrorism, October 31, 2005, regarding briefing for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist regarding the Detainee Treatment Act, and email exchanges between John Rizzo, ████████, ████████, subject: “Re: Immediate Re: Sen. Frist required for briefing on impact of McCain Amendment”; date: October 31, 2005, and associated records concerning CIA briefings for Senators John McCain, Thad Cochran, Ted Stevens, and John Cornyn; (20) SSCI Memorandum for the Record, March 8, 2006, documenting CIA briefing of March 7, 2006, to staff on status of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program; (21) CIA Director Porter Goss testimony to the SSCI on March 15, 2006, regarding the status of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program; (22) CIA Director Michael Hayden testimony to the SSCI on September 6, 2006, regarding the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program, prior to Senate consideration of the Military Commissions Act of 2006; (23) CIA Director Michael Hayden testimony to the SSCI on November 16, 2006, regarding the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program, following passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006; (24) CIA Director Michael Hayden testimony to the SSCI on April 12, 2007, regarding the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program and a report of the International Committee of the Red Cross; (25) CIA fax from CIA employee [REDACTED] to U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense, with fax cover sheet entitled, “Talking points,” sent on October 26, 2007, at 5:39:48 PM. Document faxed entitled, “Talking Points Appeal of the $███ Million reduction in CIA/CTC’s Rendition and Detention Program”; (26) CIA Director Michael Hayden testimony to the SSCI on December 11, 2007, regarding the public revelation of the CIA’s destruction of videotapes of the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and ‘Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri; (27) CIA Director Michael Hayden public testimony to the SSCI on February 5, 2008, regarding waterboarding and CIA interrogations, prior to Senate vote on February 13, 2008, on the Fiscal Year 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act that would have prohibited any member of the U.S. Intelligence Community from using interrogation techniques not authorized by the U.S. Army Field Manual.

1055.
Memorandum for the Record: “Review of Interrogation Program on 29 July 2003.” Memorandum prepared by CIA General Counsel Scott Muller, dated August 5, 2003, and briefing slides entitled, “
CIA Interrogation Program
,” dated July 29, 2003, presented to senior White House officials. Those attending the meeting included the director of the CIA, George Tenet; the CIA general counsel, Scott Muller; Vice President Cheney; National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice; White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales; Attorney General John Ashcroft; Acting Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, Patrick Philbin; and counsel to the National Security Council, John Bellinger.

1056.
CIA talking points for the National Security Council entitled, “Talking Points for 10 March 2005 DCI Meeting PC: Effectiveness of the High-Value Detainee Interrogation (HVDI) Techniques,” dated March 4, 2005, for a March 8, 2005, meeting.
See also
CIA Memorandum for National Security Advisor Rice entitled, “Effectiveness of the CIA Counterterrorist Interrogation Techniques,” dated December 2004.

1057.
From 2003 through 2009, the CIA’s representations regarding the effectiveness of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques provided a specific set of examples of terrorist plots “disrupted” and terrorists captured that the CIA attributed to information obtained from the use of its enhanced interrogation techniques. CIA representations further asserted that the intelligence obtained from the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques was unique, otherwise unavailable, and resulted in “saved lives.” Among other CIA representations, see: (1) CIA representations in the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel Memorandum, dated May 30, 2005, which relied on a series of highly specific CIA representations on the type of intelligence acquired from the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques to assess their legality. The CIA representations referenced by the OLC include that the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques was “necessary” to obtain “critical,” “vital,” and “otherwise unavailable actionable intelligence” that was “essential” for the U.S. government to “detect and disrupt” terrorist threats. The OLC memorandum further states that “[the CIA] ha[s] informed [the OLC] that the CIA believes that this program is largely responsible for preventing a subsequent attack within the United States.” (See Memorandum for John A. Rizzo, Senior Deputy General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, from Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, May 30, 2005, Re: Application of United States Obligations Under Article 16of the Convention Against Torture to Certain Techniques that May Be Used in the Interrogation of High Value al Qaeda Detainees.) (2) CIA representations in the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel Memorandum dated July 20, 2007, which also relied on CIA representations on the type of intelligence acquired from the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques. Citing CIA documents and the President’s September 6, 2006, speech describing the CIA’s interrogation program (which was based on CIA-provided information), the OLC memorandum states: ‘The CIA interrogation program—and, in particular, its use of enhanced interrogation techniques—is intended to serve this paramount interest [security of the Nation] by producing substantial quantities of otherwise unavailable intelligence. . . . As the President explained [on September 6, 2006], ‘by giving us information about terrorist plans we could not get anywhere else, the program has saved innocent lives.’” See Memorandum for John A. Rizzo, Acting General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, from Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, July 20, 2007, Re: Application of the War Crimes Act, the Detainee Treatment Act, and Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions to Certain Techniques that May Be Used by the CIA in the Interrogation of High Value al Qaeda Detainees.) (3) CIA briefings for members of the National Security Council in July and September 2003, which represented that “the use of Enhanced Techniques of one kind or another had produced significant intelligence information that had, in the view of CIA professionals, saved lives,” and which warned policymakers that “[t]ermination of this program will result in loss of life, possibly extensive.” (See August 5, 2003 Memorandum for the Record from Scott Muller, Subject: Review of Interrogation Program on 29 July 2003; Briefing slides, CIA Interrogation Program, July 29, 2003; September 4, 2003, CIA Memorandum for the Record, Subject: Member Briefing; and September 26, 2003, Memorandum for the Record from Muller, Subject: CIA Interrogation Program.) (4) The CIA’s response to the Office of Inspector General draft Special Review of the CIA program, which asserts: “Information [the CIA] received . . . as a result of the lawful use of enhanced interrogation techniques (‘EITs’) has almost certainly saved countless American lives inside the United States and abroad. The evidence points clearly to the fact that without the use of such techniques, we and our allies would [have] suffered major terrorist attacks involving hundreds, if not thousands, of casualties.” (See Memorandum for: Inspector General; from: James Pavitt, Deputy Director for Operations; subject: re: (S) Comments to Draft IG Special Review, “Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Program” 2003-7123-IG; date; February 27, 2004; attachment: February 24, 2004, Memorandum re: Successes of CIA’s Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities.) (5) CIA briefing documents for CIA Director Leon Panetta in February 2009, which state that the “CIA assesses that the RDI program worked and the [enhanced interrogation] techniques were effective in producing foreign intelligence,” and that “[m]ost, if not all, of the timely intelligence acquired from detainees in this program would not have been discovered or reported by other means.” (See CIA briefing documents for Leon Panetta, entitled, “Tab 9: DCIA Briefing on RDI Program- 18FEB.2009” and graphic attachment, “Key Intelligence and Reporting Derived from Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Shaykh Muhammad (KSM),” including “DCIA Briefing on RDI Program” agenda, CIA document “EITs and Effectiveness,” with associated documents, “Key Intelligence Impacts Chart: Attachment (AZ and KSM),” “Background on Key Intelligence Impacts Chart: Attachment,” and “supporting references,” to include “Background on Key Captures and Plots Disrupted.”) (6) CIA document faxed to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on March 18, 2009, entitled, “[SWIGERT] and [DUNBAR]” (DTS #2009-1258), which provides a list of “some of the key captures and disrupted plots” that the CIA had attributed to the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques, and states: “CIA assesses that most, if not all,of the timely intelligence acquired from detainees in this program would not have been discovered or reported by any other means.” See Volume II for additional CIA representations asserting that the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques enabled the CIA to obtain unique, otherwise unavailable intelligence that “saved lives.”

1058.
See Volume II for detailed information. The OLC’s May 30, 2005, memorandum relied on the CIA’s representations in determining that the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques did not violate the Fifth Amendment’s prohibition on executive conduct that “shocks the conscience,” indicating that this analysis was a “highly context-specific and fact-dependent question.” The OLC also linked its analysis of whether the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques was “constitutionally arbitrary” to the representation by the CIA that the program produced “substantial quantities of otherwise unavailable actionable intelligence.” (See Memorandum for John A. Rizzo, Senior Deputy General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, from Steven G. Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, re: Application of United States Obligations Under Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture to Certain Techniques that May be Used in the Interrogation of High Value Al Qaeda Detainees.) The CIA provided examples of the purported effectiveness of the CIA enhanced interrogation techniques in response to a request from the OLC. According to an email from ███ █████CTC Legal ████████, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury explained that “because the standards under Article 16 [of the Convention Against Torture] require a balancing of the government’s need for the information, it would be quite helpful if we had any case studies or examples to demonstrate the value of information produced by the program.” See email from: ██████ to: ████ ████, ██████, ██████, ██████; cc: ██████, [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED]; date: March 2, 2005, 2:32 PM.