Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she and the White House are still haggling over redactions to the Senate’s torture report with the goal of releasing it as soon as possible.
“We’re trying to make progress on the redactions, we’re not there yet,” the California Democrat told the Washington Examiner Monday night. “Staffs are working. Matter of fact, they’re working today on it. We’re not going to put out the report until it is understandable and comprehensive.”
Pressed on whether a mid-September release is the target, Feinstein said, “Yes. The soonest we can is the target.”
Feinstein chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, which conducted a five-year investigation into the CIA’s enhanced interrogation and rendition practices in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Earlier this year, the panel voted 11 to 3 to declassify an executive summary of the secret report, but its release has been delayed while the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence reviewed it and redacted information they regard as too sensitive to disclose.
Before the August recess, Feinstein said the Obama administration gave her a version of the report that was redacted so heavily that it no longer made sense. She delayed the report’s release indefinitely until she and the Obama administration could agree on the blacked-out sections.
Sources closely following the issue said the committee and White House staffers had made significant progress over August recess and expected the panel to release the executive summary in mid-September.
