Levin asked Beaver if, in the October 2002 meeting with CIA’s Jonathan Fredman, if SERE employed “the wet towel technique,” as the minutes apparently show her asking. Beaver’s (shocking)response: “I don’t recall.” What does she recall? That there was a “candid” discussion of what Geneva allowed. “That’s all I recall from that meeting.”
She’s portraying herself as a bagman. Higher headquarters “wouldn’t ask for torture,” since that was by definition illegal, she said. Instead, therefore, ” …some SERE techniques would be permissible, acceptable.” That, she said, was “a natural leap,” although, she testified, she was fully aware that SERE is not an interrogation program.