Retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering on Tuesday said any negative consequences of releasing the Senate report on the United States’ now-defunct enhanced interrogation program are outweighed by the importance of its findings.
During a call with reporters, Pickering said the military has had multiple years to prepare for the public release of the report’s summary and any international backlash that comes with it.
{mosads}”There is no question in my mind at all that our military, intelligence and diplomatic establishment is well protected in its efforts to assure that the effects of the report, which might be negative, are not worked out on them,” he said.
“And certainly, I hope that will be the case. We of course await any information of that sort,” added Pickering, who served as ambassador to numerous countries and the United Nations during his decades-long tenure with the State Department.
The more than 500-page summary of the report detailed harsh interrogation techniques used on more than 100 individuals, larger and more brutal than were reported to Congress. Among other findings, the report found that the interrogation program was poorly managed and less effective than initially described.
A number of critics of the report had called for the release to be postponed due of national security concerns, particularly with the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. had raised its alerts at embassies and military facilities around the world ahead of the release.
“The timing of the release is problematic given the growing threats we face,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement. “Terrorism is on the rise, and our enemies will seize upon this report at a critical time. Simply put, this is not the time to release the report.”
But Pickering pushed back on that argument, arguing disclosure of government documents should not be subject to terrorists. He added that many of the general findings are already public.
“It is in my view, the policy of the United States, that we should not allow hostage-takers and terrorists to determine our foreign policy,” he said. “The delay of the report to meet their threat is bowing to that particular activity and something I believe we should not be engaged in doing.”
Pickering stressed that he is more concerned similar U.S. action does not happen in the future, when asked if officials involved in the program following the 9/11 attack should be prosecuted; he noted that is the Justice Department’s purview.
“They have all have taken an oath … that they will all carry out the laws of the United States. They will have to look at that responsibility,” he said.
Alberto Mora, who served as general counsel to the Navy while the program was in place, said the release “reopens the issue of accountability.” He noted that some of the techniques went beyond what was authorized by the Justice Department, while some individuals provided the Justice Department with misrepresentative statements about the extent of the techniques used.
“I think the shield that has been provided to those individuals who engaged in the practices within the confines of the reports might no longer be effective as it was before,” he said.