Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee are urging President Trump to read a 2014 report on the CIA’s programs before deciding to restart “enhanced interrogation.”
“To avoid making the mistakes of the past it is of the utmost importance that you familiarize yourself with, and ensure that any Executive Branch officials involved in the formation of policy on detention and interrogation review, the full Committee study,” they wrote in the letter.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the committee, as well as Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Kamala Harris (Calif.) and Independent Sen. Angus King (Maine) signed the letter.
{mosads}They added that the report was meant to be used for any future interrogation guidelines and “remains a critical resource for anyone considering detention and interrogation policy.”
The 2014 report found that many of the CIA’s practices were overly brutal and possibly illegal. The Democrats noted that both Mike Pompeo, the new CIA director, and Sen. Jeff Sessions, nominated to be attorney general, pledged that they would review the full report.
A draft executive order circulated this week sparked a new round of debate over interrogation techniques, including waterboarding.
The order would revoke a series of Obama administration rules that closed CIA “black sites,” granted Red Cross access to all detainees and limited interrogators to techniques approved in the Army Field Manual.
The Senate Democrats said reports that Trump is considering restarting the Bush-era programs are “deeply troubling.”
But White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday the document wasn’t from the White House, adding, “I have no idea where it came from.”
But he refused to answer questions about whether Trump was weighing the basic policy recommendations contained in the draft order.
Trump signaled during an interview with ABC News on Wednesday that his administration would be announcing its plan for CIA black sites within hours, but as of Thursday evening the White House hadn’t made an announcement.
He also noted that he had been discussing waterboarding “as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence.”
Feinstein previously pushed late last year for the outgoing Obama administration to make the full 7,000-page document public.
While Obama told Senate Intelligence leaders he would preserve report in his presidential papers, he didn’t declassify the document before leaving office earlier this month.