More Trouble for Pelosi: Judicial Watch Obtains New CIA Documents Regarding Congressional Briefings on Enhanced Interrogation Techniques
Late last Friday, Judicial Watch received 504 pages of declassified “Top Secret” CIA memoranda detailing congressional notifications and briefings on enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs) and detention operations. Judicial Watch got its hands on the documents thanks to a court order stipulating that all CIA documents related to EIT briefings for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress be turned over to JW by April 15th. (Better late than never.)
Our investigations team is still reviewing the documents but here are a couple of highlights we have uncovered so far.
First, I want to call your attention to a “Classified Statement for the Record” by General Michael Hayden, then-Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on April 12, 2007:
At the entrance to an office in CIA’s Counterterrorism Center is a sign and a reminder: “Today’s date is September 12, 2001.” We make no apologies for this attitude or for the lawful and legitimate actions we have taken to counter al-Qa’ida. And let me be clear, our enemy is still potent and able to attack us here and overseas…
…Al-Qa-ida’s only obstacle to attacking us again is our continued assertive effort to stop them. CIA’s detention and interrogation program remains critical to our ability to sustain this effort and protect the American people from another attack. As the President stated in his 6 September 2006 speech to the nation on “The Creation of Military Commissions to Try Suspected Terrorists,” “…the most important source of information on where the terrorists are hiding and what they are planning is the terrorists, themselves.”
This squares with other documents we previously received from the CIA, including a June 1, 2005, CIA report entitled, “Detainee Reporting Pivotal for the War against Al-Qa’ida,” which stated: “Detainee reporting accounts for more than half of all HUMINT [Human Intelligence] reporting on al-Qa'ida since the program began…” This fact was omitted by later versions of the report for some reason. However, all versions of the report concluded: “One of the gains to detaining the additional terrorists has been the thwarting of a number of al-Qa'ida operations in the United States and overseas.”
In other words, the consensus among intelligence officials seems to be that EITs work. And one of the nation’s top intelligence official says we’re more susceptible to attack. Hayden concludes his testimony with the warning that not having the ability to use enhanced interrogation techniques would allow terrorists to “withhold critical, time-sensitive, actionable intelligence that could prevent an imminent, catastrophic attack. In essence, we could be back to a pre-9/11 posture.”
Thanks to President Obama’s banning of enhanced interrogation techniques, that’s where our nation is today — at increased risk of a catastrophic terrorist attack.
Now to the question everyone has been asking, what did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi know regarding the use of EITs and when did she know it? You may recall that Pelosi admitted she was briefed by the CIA in 2002, but denies she was ever told EITs were being used at the time.
In this most recent batch of documents, Judicial Watch obtained a never-before-released memo by the Office of Inspector General asking that very question. (In fact, the subject header for the memo reads: “Document/File Review Related to CIA Notification Meetings with Nancy Pelosi About the Use of Harsh Interrogation Techniques Against Detainees.”
Despite the provocative headline, much of the most critical information was redacted from the document. However, the memo does conclude: “…Pelosi probably was briefed twice in 2002, first in April 2002 after Abu Zubaydah’s capture and probably again in September 2002 after Agency officers began interrogating the detainee.”
And what was covered?
“During the years subsequent to [redacted] record of the briefing of Pelosi in September 2002, Directorate of Operations/National Clandestine Service (DO/NCS) officers continued to say in documents and [redacted] messages that Pelosi and others on the Intelligence Committees had been briefed or ‘fully briefed’ during September 2002.”
Now, given that Abu Zubaydah was subjected to EITs, the term “fully briefed” suggests at least that the use of EITs, including waterboarding, was included in the discussion with Pelosi.
Of course, we would have a much clearer understanding of the precise nature of the briefings were it not for the redactions. Let me show you what I mean. One section of the OIG memo states: “Regarding the content of the 4 September 2002 briefing for Pelosi, Goss, [redacted] message and cable indicated that he, Rodriguez, [redacted] provided information about [redacted].” By withholding this information, the Obama administration covers for Pelosi.
Still, the preponderance of evidence seems to support the CIA’s contention that Pelosi was made aware of the use of EITs. And that she lied about it.
New York Rep. Peter King came to the same conclusion. Congressman King told The Washington Times: “Everyone I have spoken to who were on the [House Intelligence] Committee says that she was certainly aware of what was going on.”
What a scandal it is that our nation’s Speaker of the House of Representatives, third in line for the presidency, would lie about such an important national security matter. We hope these new documents can be used to hold her to account for her big lie.
Tom Fitton JW
(I am sure Liberals like "What Nonsense" will probably attack Mr Fitton as he can not attack me anymore. LOL)
