Full disclosure took a back seat to the CIA’s green movement last week when agency big shots blocked officials from printing out hard copies of the Senate Democratic report on terrorist interrogations, fearing it was “killing too many trees.”
Meanwhile, paper copies of the report from Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein were hand-delivered to terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay — though not the rebuttals from the CIA or Republicans on her committee.
An agency insider revealed that after printers started pouring out copies of the 600-page executive summary from the 6,000-page “Study of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program,” an order came to stop.
Many of those mentioned had never seen the report, and top former CIA executives responsible for the controversial terrorist interrogation program weren’t even interviewed.
As a result, some of those in the agency were eager to pour over the pages, make notes and draw up their defense.
But one eager for a report told us that there was an “edict that no more hard copies be made because of the massive amount of paper it is wasting.” Another aware of the order said that the complaint was that it is “killing too many trees.”
A CIA spokesman was unaware of the order.
Meanwhile, as CIA officials were blocked from printing out a copy of the report that attacked their program, paper copies were hand delivered to the terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, including top suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and their lawyers.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “The five defendants at the Cuban prison were given copies of the 500-plus page report to review in their cells, getting what is apparently their first comprehensive confirmation of the harsh interrogation techniques they endured at CIA detention facilities before being transferred to Guantanamo.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
