OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: Clash over CIA report

by Kristina Wong and Martin Matishak - 12/09/14 7:02 PM ET

THE TOPLINE: The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday released a 528-page report that asserts the CIA misled the public, Congress and the White House while carrying out “enhanced interrogation” techniques that, in some cases, amounted to torture.

The report details the CIA’s rendition, detention and interrogation of suspected terrorists during the Bush administration after the Sept. 11, 2001. The CIA held at least 119 people, of whom 39 were subjected to the harsh techniques, and 26 were wrongfully held.

{mosads}The report contained new graphic details of those techniques, that included “rectal feeding” without documented medical necessity. In the case of one detainee, a lunch of “hummus, pasta with sauce, nuts, and raisins was ‘pureed’ and rectally infused.”

One detainee spent a total of 266 hours — or more than 11 days, in a coffin-sized box. Detainees were also put in “stress positions” and kept awake for up to 180 hours.

Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in the report’s foreword that it was her “personal conclusion that, under any common meaning of the term, CIA detainees were tortured.”

The report concludes that the CIA’s arguments in support of the techniques were based on “inaccurate claims.” Agency officials presented misleading evidence to the White House, Justice Department, Congress and the public that, in some cases, had “no relationship” to the actual information gained from detainees, the report says.

READ MORE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT HERE.

CIA PUSHES BACK: Current and former CIA chiefs protested the report’s findings and its release.

CIA Director John Brennan said the agency “made mistakes” in the years after 9/11, but he rebutted the Senate Intelligence Committee’s conclusion that officials in Washington were misled.

“While we made mistakes, the record does not support the study’s inference that the agency systematically and intentionally misled each of these audiences on the effectiveness of the program,” he said.

George Tenet, who was CIA director through much of the Bush administration, called the report “biased, inaccurate, and destructive” and said it “does damage to U.S. national security, to the men and women of the Central Intelligence Agency, and most of all to the truth.”

GOP REACTION: Republicans on the Senate committee also pushed back with a dissenting report.

The Republican analysis said the report suffered from a “lack of objectivity,” “inadequate context” and claimed that it comes to “erroneous” conclusions.

While many Republicans criticized the report, however, some supported its release.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) both gave speeches on the Senate floor on Tuesday heralding the report’s release.

SECURITY THREATS: The report came amid heightened security measures on U.S. military bases and diplomatic facilities worldwide.

Republican critics and even administration officials said the report’s release could cause unrest around the world.

Feinstein said she would be grieved if Americans died because of violent responses to the report, but said time was running out for her to release the findings.

“I would feel very badly of course, I mean what do you think…” Feinstein said on CNN. “But we lose control at the end of this year, the Republicans take control, and there’s some evidence that this report would never see the light of day.”

The report released to the public is just an executive summary of a full 6,700-page document analyzing 6.3 million pages of material that will remain classified and likely never see the light of day.

LIMITS ON ISIS STRATEGY?: Secretary of State John Kerry told Senate lawmakers to avoid crafting an authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against Islamic militants that expressly prohibits ground troops.

He said President Obama “has been crystal clear” he prefers to rely on local forces to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL).

“However, while we certainly believe this is the soundest policy, and while the president has been clear he’s open to clarifications on the use of U.S. combat troops to be outlined in an AUMF, that does not mean we should preemptively bind the hands of the commander in chief — or our commanders in the field — in responding to scenarios and contingencies that are impossible to foresee,” Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Any authorization should not include a “geographic limitation,” he added.

His comments come as the committee plans to take up an authorization on Thursday.

The measure would give the president authority to target ISIS and groups fighting on the group’s behalf, according to Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). The three-year authorization would ban ground troops and require the administration to report back to lawmakers every 60 days.

Kerry said the administration backed the three-year timeframe for the proposed authorization but with a provision that allows for “possible extensions.”

The chairman called that approach “open ended,” and said if the president wants U.S. troops on the ground he should ask Congress for that authority.

“There’s a famous movie with the line ‘show me the money,’ I’d say ‘show me the language,’ ” Menendez said.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) chided Kerry and the administration for backing a measure without geographic limits. He said such a resolution would send a “signal to the Middle East that no city is off limits” to U.S. bombing.

Kerry said Paul’s statement was made with “no input or, frankly, the consideration of the limits and strictures under which the United States is currently operating.”

Paul said he could not vote for “any resolution” that doesn’t contain a geographic limit.

While the panel is set to mark up an authorization for force on Thursday, incoming Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) says the resolution likely would not guide lawmakers in the next Congress.

He predicted that the administration’s strategy for defeating ISIS is “likely to evolve significantly” in the coming months.

“Hopefully, it will change because there isn’t one today, so you would add some meat to it,” Corker said.

DEFENSE BILL DELAY? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he plans to file a joint national defense authorization bill some time Tuesday night.

However, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.),plans to object to the $585 billion Pentagon policy blueprint.

“Yeah, it’s not going through on” unanimous consent, he told reporters.

Coburn, a fiscal hawk, said he would protest the bill worked out between the House and Senate “because it has packages and earmarks and every other kind of thing that shouldn’t be in the” National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Conservative lawmakers like Coburn and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have called on their colleagues to block the must-pass legislation over provisions that would create new parks and wilderness areas.

The land package attached to the policy bill would add 250,000 acres of new wilderness designations, conserve 400,000 acres of public land from development and create 15 new national parks or park expansions.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

— House passes bill to help prevent veteran suicides

— Former ambassador: US protected following Senate report

— Rockefeller feels ‘deep disappointment’ in White House

— Republican calls for debate on authorizing force

— House tees up terrorism insurance bill

Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@digital-stage.thehill.com, and Martin Matishak, mmatishak@digital-stage.thehill.com.