In a bid to bring the “rest of the story” to the nation about the CIA’s detention and interrogation of al Qaeda terrorists, eight former top CIA officials, including three directors, are publishing a rebuttal to the sensational Senate Democratic “torture report.”
Early next month, the Naval Institute Press will release “Rebuttal: The CIA Responds to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Study of Its Detention and Interrogation Program.”
In addition to challenging the Democratic conclusion that CIA techniques, including waterboarding, didn’t produce any intelligence, it will be the first time the top officials who oversaw the program will jointly give their review of how it all went down and the successes it brought. Surprisingly, none were interviewed for the Democratic report published in December.
It also will include the responses of the Republicans on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, left out of the best-selling “The Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Torture: Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program.”
Proceeds generated from the sale of the 352-page “Rebuttal” will go to the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation.
The key essays about the program are written by three former CIA chiefs: George Tenet, Porter Goss and retired Gen. Michael V. Hayden. Other contributors include two former deputy directors, John McLaughlin and Michael Morell, former clandestine service boss Jose A. Rodriguez, former CIA and FBI counterterrorism official J. Philip Mudd and former CIA Acting General Counsel John Rizzo.
The intelligence community has been eager to counter the Democratic report by the committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, which many said has been unfairly characterized as the main report on the CIA’s enhanced interrogation programs.
After it came out, current CIA Director John O. Brennan said the interrogations helped produce information that helped set the stage for the 2011 raid by Navy SEALs on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
VEEP BUZZ: SOUTH CAROLINA SEN. TIM SCOTT
It has become conventional wisdom that the Republican presidential ticket will include a minority, but so far the major focus has been on Hispanic politicians.
But there is building buzz in Washington to consider a conservative African-American lawmaker, and the focus is on South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
Scott, the first black congressman from South Carolina since 1897, was named to his seat in 2013 and won it outright in a special election. He made news last month when he proposed national police body cameras in reaction to a police shooting in his state.
At 49, he is one of a cadre of younger South Carolina politicians who represent a generational change from the past, and he’s well-liked in his delegation.
Friends say he is dedicated to his state, but they see higher office in his future.
“He’s focused on how South Carolina can lead the country — and that includes helping state Republicans determine the best candidate” for president, said political strategist Tucker Eskew. “Tim’s philosophy about America is that with enough work and drive, the sky’s the limit. The same can be said for his political prospects.”
DEMOCRAT CHAFEE LIKES JIMMY CARTER’S WINNING MODEL
It’s easy to write off former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s quiet effort to beat out Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. But, he tells the Washington Examiner, that would be as big a mistake as those who dismissed Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Chafee, a former mayor and former senator, ranks last in the race, but sees hope in Carter’s surprise wins that year in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, both the first in the nation.
Asked who he is modeling his campaign after, he mentioned former Arizona Rep. Morris Udall, also a 1976 candidate, then said, “Jimmy Carter, maybe, plodded away and talked about the issues he thought were important to him.”
And he’s encouraged by the unusual nature of the Democratic race, which has seen Clinton’s approval numbers drop since the day she announced her candidacy.
“This is fairly unique in that [former] Secretary [of State] Clinton got such a huge head start getting all the political apparatus behind her, even the money,” he said. But, he added, now that the classified email scandal is dogging her, there is a chance he can rise.
QUOTE
“If you’ve not changed your mind once in 20 years on any issue, then I tell you, you are not a thinking, breathing, living human being.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, running for president, who has evolved on gun issues
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
