Dem senator pushes back on criticism of CIA report release

The possibility of anti-American violence is not a sufficient reason to withhold a report on the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Monday.

“There are some around the world who are already angry at the United States because torture was used in the past,” Wyden said on MSNBC. “This report doesn’t change that. This report is about making sure that people understand what happened and then how it happened so it doesn’t happen again.”

{mosads}Wyden was responding, in part, to criticism from Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who said on Sunday that foreign governments have said that the release of the report “will cause violence and deaths.”

Members of the intelligence community have pushed back on the investigation, which was conducted by Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee beginning in 2009.

According to reports, the White House and Congress have been told that there is a “heightened potential” for violence against American personnel overseas once the report is released. Former officials from the CIA are planning a blitz of op-eds and media appearances to rebut its conclusions.

The 480-page summary of the so-called “torture report” is expected to be released, with redactions, by Senate Democrats on Tuesday. The full document is about 6,000 pages. The investigation has been in motion for years.

Republicans did not participate in the probe, and are set to release a dissent rejecting the investigation’s conclusions.

Through President Obama has endorsed the report’s release, the White House has been active in the negotiations over how to redact it. Earlier this year, The Huffington Post reported that Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was personally negotiating the redactions in the report.