CIA Director John Brennan is just days away from being relieved of his post, but on his way out the door, two key Democratic Senators are reminding him they’re still skeptical of what he has told Congress.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Ron Wyden (R-Ore.) sent a letter to Brennan on Wednesday, asking him to follow-up on testimony he gave before the Intelligence Committee last June about holding individuals within the agency accountable for torture.
“We request that you correct or clarify your public testimony from June 16, 2016, regarding accountability and the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program,” the duo wrote.
They added, somewhat cryptically: “this issue has been the topic of a number of exchanges over the past several months.”
During the June hearing referenced in the letter, Brennan claimed that the CIA “took action” against those involved in the agency’s illegal torture program. Under questioning from Sen. Wyden, he alleged, “there was individual accountability taken as well as accountability for some of those management and systemic failures.”
But the Director refused to elaborate in an open session.
“I will await your classified response so that we have more details on that,” Wyden replied.
This week’s missive to Brennan, however, suggests that in the intervening months, Wyden never received a sufficient response from the agency.
The activities revealed by the Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report in 2014 were a clear violation of not just US prohibitions against torture, but also international treaty obligations. And, according to the latter, the Obama administration would be complicit in the human rights violations, if perpetrators weren’t held accountable.
Going back to 2009, the Center for Constitutional Rights was pressuring the Obama administration to open probes into the program erected by his predecessor.
“Article 4 of the [United Nation’s] Convention Against Torture requires the new Obama administration convene a criminal investigation into the illegal acts and those responsible for them,” the group noted.
The incoming Trump administration may revisit the Bush era program, but not to fulfill international obligations under anti-torture treaties. During the campaign, Trump said he would bring back waterboarding and “a hell of a lot worse.”
