Senate Intelligence Committee

It read to me yesterday like the torture documents requested in the Senate intelligence committee’s intelligence authorization bill were probably documents from the CIA supporting the dubious proposition that torturing detainees yielded valuable intelligence. But it’s unclear — they’re, of course, still classified — and some progressive senators, like Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Russ Feingold [...]

Just released from Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair’s office:
Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair announced today that Ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr. has requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National Intelligence Council not proceed. Director Blair accepted Ambassador Freeman’s decision with regret.
Pound of flesh: extracted.

As I reported yesterday, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is planning to launch a thorough review of the CIA’s interrogation techniques used in the “war on terror” during the Bush administration. The inquiry, which has not yet been formally announced because its scope and procedures are still being developed, will be the first major [...]

Maybe it was the recent Gallup poll showing that more than 62 percent of Americans favor some sort of investigation into alleged Bush administration lawbreaking, but a source on Capitol Hill said the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, chaired by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), is considering launching an inquiry into the CIA’s “extreme” interrogation practices [...]

The congressional antipathy to Leon Panetta’s ascension to CIA director that I reported on yesterday makes the lede of The New York Times’ Panetta story. In addition to incoming Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, The Times’ Mark Mazzetti and Carl Hulse report that outgoing chairman Jay Rockefeller is also a Panetta skeptic. (As my [...]