December 12, 2007

Probes Into Destruction Of CIA Tapes Expand & Multiply

Congressional investigators are expanding their inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the CIA's videotaped interrogations, as members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence complained about not getting enough answers during a closed briefing yesterday with CIA Director Michael Hayden.

Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said after the briefing that he plans to call CIA Inspector General John Helgerson and John Rizzo, the agency's top lawyer, to testify by next week "at the latest" on the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the tapes in 2005.

Rockefeller said it is possible he will also call Jose Rodriguez Jr. to testify. Rodriguez has been identified as the official who, as head of the spy agency's national clandestine service, ordered the videotapes destroyed. "This is a beginning," Rockefeller said.

The House intelligence committee is scheduled to hear from Hayden during a closed session today.

Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey requesting "a complete account of the Justice Department's own knowledge of and involvement with" the CIA's possession and destruction of the videotapes. The Justice Department's national security division and Helgerson announced over the weekend that they will conduct "a preliminary inquiry" into the destruction of the tapes.

Leahy and Specter said their committee will use a hearing next week to consider the nomination of Mark Filip to be deputy attorney general at Justice to find out more about the department's investigation. And adding fuel to the fire, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., yesterday asked U.S. Archivist Allen Weinstein for his opinion on whether the destruction of the videotapes violated the Federal Records Act, which requires preservation of official government records.

After Hayden met with the Senate intelligence committee yesterday, panel members left the room with many unanswered questions.

"In my view, the administration clearly has a track record of playing fast and loose with the rules, with respect to interrogation," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. "I think there's a real question about whether it's going on today." "I can't comment about [the discussions at the closed hearing] but I think there's much more to do," he added. "There are plenty of questions left to look at."

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., would only say after the hearing, "We'll be talking to more people."

Rockefeller called the session "useful but not yet complete." "There are a lot of questions to be answered [regarding] the destruction of the tapes. Who authorized it? How come we didn't know about it?" he told reporters.

But Rockefeller said he does not believe his committee will need to subpoena any witnesses. "I don't think it's the best way to get people to appear," he said. "In an atmosphere and a subject like this, it should not be difficult to get people to appear. I do not expect that we will have problems with that."

Hayden, speaking to reporters, said he gave Rockefeller's committee "a narrative" but quickly noted he was not at the CIA when the tapes were made in 2002 or destroyed in 2005. "There are other people in the agency who know about this far better than I," Hayden said.

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence ranking member Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., agreed. "He was not there at the time, and we look forward to hearing from people who were actually there and can answer the questions more directly," Bond said. "There is nothing that I have heard so far that indicates an illegal or unlawful or violation of treaty or law in the interrogation methods used," he added, asserting that the destruction of the tapes "had nothing to do" with the legality of the CIA's interrogation program.

Meanwhile, the House is scheduled to vote on the FY08 intelligence authorization bill today. The bill includes a controversial provision, added last week during a House-Senate conference on the measure, that would prohibit U.S. intelligence agencies -- especially the CIA -- from using interrogation techniques that are not approved in the Army Field Manual.

-Chris Strohm, CongressDaily

Posted at 8:55 AM
Posted to: CIA, Congress, House, Senate
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