CIA Director John Brennan acknowledged that the agency made mistakes in carrying out a program of extreme interrogation techniques in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but denied that he or his colleagues systemically misled the public or Congress about the program’s effectiveness.
“In some instances, we failed to live up to the standards that we set for ourselves,” he said in a rare public statement from CIA headquarters Thursday afternoon.
Brennan held fast to the notion that the “enhanced interrogation program” produced valuable intelligence but he also said it is “unknowable” whether the information could have been obtained through other means.
Some CIA officials deviated from operational guidelines and violated the agency’s interrogation limits, he said.
These extreme techniques, he said, “were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all.”
But he also noted that it is “vitally important” to recognize that the vast majority of officers carried out their roles and followed the guidelines faithfully.
“They did what they were asked to do in the service of our nation,” he said.
The record, he argued, does not support that the CIA systematically misled the public or Congress that the “enhanced interrogation techniques” produced good intelligence.
For instance, he said the CIA used information gleaned through the extreme interrogations in its efforts to find, target and kill the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
“It is our view that the detainees that were subjected to EIT [produced information that] was vital and useful and was used in the operation to go against bin Laden,” he said.
Appearing stiff and clearly uncomfortable with taking direct questions from the media, Brennan spent the majority of his opening remarks recalling the climate of intense fear and shattered security that the CIA and the nation experienced after the Sept. 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
“The nation ached, it cried and it prayed,” he said. “And in our pain we pledged to come together as one and prevent Osama bin Laden and his killing machine” from taking more innocent American lives.
“The CIA was looked to for answers, not only for the questions on the threat we face but also question on what we were going to do to stop future attacks,” he said.
Brennan also sprinkled his remarks with expressions of pride for the agency and his colleagues service to the country.
“Whatever your view on enhanced interrogation techniques,” he said, “This agency did a lot of things right during this difficult time to keep our country and nation secure.”
In responding to a reporter, Brennan also made an off-the-cuff remark revealing just how irritated and uncomfortable he was with the Senate report’s public airing of the CIA’s dirty laundry.
“I think there’s more than enough transparency that has happened over the last few days — I think it’s over the top,” he grumbled before responding more directly.
But the highly unusual press conference also gave Brennan a chance to correct some misperceptions about him and the CIA.
Responding to a final question, he said he backed Obama’s decision to prohibit the use of extreme interrogation practices because he said they produce a lot of bad leads for agency officials to sort through.
“I tend to believe that the use of coercive methods have a strong prospect for resulting in false information,” he said. “Because [suspects] may say something to have those techniques stopped.”
“The agency has said those individuals subjected to those techniques provided useful information and false information,” he added. “[Gathering useful intelligence] is made more challenging if you get more false information.”
